Diamond in the Rough
by Nickelina
Summary: COBRA's latest weapon is in it final stages of development and it is up to GI Joe to stop them before they can use it. When Lady Jaye and the newest Joe member get paired up, will their inablilty to work together get in the way? Or can they put their diff
1. Default Chapter

_Disclaimer: Characters in this work (GI Joe/ Cobra) are the property of Marvel Comics, Hasbro  
and Devil's Due Publishing, Inc , and are being used without permission. No profit is gained from the use of these characters._

_Rowan Michaels (a.k.a. Trigger), Mirrored Reflections, and the Diamondback are of my own creation_

_Thanks to: DesertFox for her work, Wolfman for answering my endless questions, JohnF. , I would not know Rowan, if I did not know you, and to Jai for the push . . . _

**Diamond in the Rough**

By Nickelina

**Tears and Joy **

_Prologue_

The first snow fall of the year left small patches of green grass peeking through, as if it were playing an autumn game of hide and seek. Light gray clouds danced in the sky, blown by the cold wind. She blinked a tear from her eye and watched it fall. No sooner had her tear hit the ground had the next wave of snowflakes began to rain from the sky. Big fluffy snowflakes, the kind you always see in November. She blinked away another tear.

Turning her gaze away from the falling snow, she looked around the small cemetery, and noticed that there were not many in attendance. The lump that had finally faded started to form again in her throat. She couldn't remember the last time she had felt such a mixture of anger and sadness. _The others should be here_. _They should have been there._ She felt a hand grasp hers, and it broke her out of her solitude.

"Are you all right? Lean into me if you have to." Ripcord whispered to her.

She blocked out his concerned voice. On the other side of the flowercovered casket, Hawk placed a medal on top of it. As he began to speak, she felt the watershed of tears begin again.

"His dedication to the freedom of this nation, and the protection of this unit allowed him to give the ultimate sacrifice. For this, we thank him."

In her grief, the rest of the service was a blur. If there was anything said by the other Joes, it went unnoticed; any prayers that were offered went unheard.

At the conclusion of the service, the few who were there congregated together. She started walking toward a small corner of the cemetery. _Find a place to be alone. _She heard Ripcord call out after her.

"Alison! Where are you going?"

He began to run after her, but she did not turn around. She just wanted to be left alone. Alone; with her thoughts, her memories, and the snow.

120 miles south of Caracas, Venezuela the latest in a new string on COBRA Terrordromes was finally completed and running. Its gray exterior, not unlike the others around the world, was partially hidden by the denseness of the rain forest surrounding it. Although it was not dark yet, the searchlight dimly crept across the jungle The COBRA troops in the foliage knew that there was a prying eye watching everything they did, making sure they were keeping their own watch vigilant.

No one was to come near. COBRA had their hands in the diamond mines. A group of small, underdeveloped mines that most who lived there didn't know existed. From these mines were pulled some of the finest raw stones South America had to offer. And the mine COBRA was currently were working on had proven to be quite prosperous. If these mines couldn't give them what they needed, there was always South Africa, or the Ivory Coast. But it was best to lay low. Things always worked better when the number of hands in the pie were small. Not that Cobra needed the diamonds for profit; the organization had all the money it needed. It was a weapon they were developing now. And this would be a weapon everyone would want. The diamonds themselves could be used as collateral, to get what they wanted. People have died for diamonds, and they would again.

With the idea of a cloaking device foiled in the past, the diamonds were to outfit a laser, the most deadly that COBRA could dream of. A precisely placed perfect diamond could magnify the intensity of a laser. A beam of light so strong, it could be hot as the surface of the sun and hit the head of a pin. The Diamondback, as it was called, was not designed as a large weapon, but the prototype had worked so well that COBRA now, was making one on a grander scale. All that was needed was the diamonds. It was that thought that brought a wicked smile to Cobra Commander's face. From his viewing balcony atop the Terrordromes, he looked out the window. Pleased by what he saw, he decided to check on things in the command center.

Placing his cowl on his face, he walked down the hall to his private elevator. The ride was short and as soon as the doors opened on the operations floor, all the vipers snapped to attention. The two doors to the operations center slid open and caught four Crimson Guardsmen who were supposed to be on duty, resting on the job.

"Get to work you lazy incompetent fools! You don't get paid to relax and talk! I see this again and I'll make sure that you are in the mines, digging around in the dirt, or better yet, in the refinery!" Before the Commander could finish, the men were scurrying around the room.

Cobra Commander walked across the room that was full of various computer and surveillance equipment. He sat down in front a large video screen and began to survey the refinery. He was joined by his partner in this endeavor, Destro.

"Do not be so harsh with them if you wish them to remain here." Destro's thick Scottish brogue resonated throughout the room.

"I will talk to them however I like, Destro," The Commander spat. "If you would find decent people for this operation this wouldn't be a problem."

"Correct me if I am wrong, Commander, but you hand-picked your men, not I."

Flustered, Cobra Commander did not reply. Destro continued, "We have scouted the area, there is no reconnaissance aircraft, GI Joe and the other meddling governments have no idea we are here. No one knows there is any activity out of the ordinary."

The Commander dismisses Destro and moves on to more important matters. "Why haven't they brought anything from the refinery yet?"

"You can not simply pull the perfect diamond from he ground. However, we have had many smaller, high quality raw stones."

"Well what good are those?"

"There are many different…"

Cobra Commander cut his off. "We could use the smaller diamonds to enhance the lasers on our pistols. Would M.A.R.S. be interested in undertaking a project of that magnitude?"

Destro was annoyed with the Commander. He walked to the small filing shelf near the doors and grabbed a file folder dropping it in the Commanders lap. "M.A.R.S. has already completed reports. Perhaps you should read them when they are sent to you."

"I have been…busy. Cobra Commander flipped through the papers stopping only to look at the cost of refitting all the larger weapons. "Hmm, costly."

"But well worth the price."

"Extensive Enterprises is already putting funds toward the refining. I couldn't possibly ask them for more."

Destro checks the time and summons one of his guards. "Prepare tea. I will be in my quarters in fifteen minutes." The guard excuses himself.

"You can't possibly be thinking about tea! We have a dilemma!"

"Correction, you have a dilemma. M.A.R.S. will be waiting on your answer. Good afternoon, Commander." Destro turned to leave, his cape swirling behind him.

"Wait!"

"My tea is getting cold."

"But…"

"You have a mine full of diamonds, figure it out."


	2. Meetings

_Disclaimer: Characters in this work (GI Joe/ Cobra) are the property of Marvel Comics, Hasbro  
and Devil's Due Publishing, Inc , and are being used without permission. No profit is gained from the use of these characters._

_Rowan Michaels (a.k.a. Trigger), Mirrored Reflections, and the Diamondback are of my own creation_

_Thanks to: DesertFox for her work, JohnF. , I would not know Rowan, if I did not know you, and to Jai for the push . . . _

**Diamond in the Rough**

By Nickelina

**Meetings**

The assembly hall at Joe headquarters was starting to calm down as Flint returned to his place in front of the podium. There were only a few more items to go over for this morning's meeting. Flint cleared his throat and the room began to quiet down. Today was not going as smoothly as it normally did. Duke's idea of assigned seating would have to be re-evaluated. Although most Joes got along well, there was an air of tension when they were forced to sit in a certain seat. Once all was quiet and Flint had their attention, he began. "Do we have any questions concerning Lifeline's presentation this morning? Any comments?"

"Yeah!" A gravelly, yet jolly voice called out from the group. "Can he do that again? I need another nap."

Those who were sitting near knew that a comment like that could only come from Shipwreck.

"Very funny, Shipwreck. These presentations are meant to inform you in case you would run into trouble in the field and would be unable to contact anyone for help. I expect your full attention next time. Making sure you all are up to date on basic first aid is required," Flint looked Shipwreck right in the eye and watched him sink in his seat. "Thank you again Lifeline. Now finally, we may have a few new recruits in the next few weeks. Hawk would appreciate it if all of you to welcome them into the fold. Be patient as they learn the ropes, so to speak."

A few hands went up in the crowd.

Flint sighed before continuing. "Hazing will not be permitted or tolerated, if that answers any of your questions." Most of the hands went down, Flint picked from the remaining that were left.

"Do you have any idea of how many there are?" Ripcord asked.

"No, I'm sure Hawk will have all the answers when he gets back."

"When is that?" Shipwreck asked before Flint could call on him.

"Hawk is due back tomorrow. Which reminds me," Flint paused and cleared his throat, "any re-arrangement of the recreation room should be cleared through Hawk, Duke, myself, or any other officer on duty. I'd advise, gentlemen and lady, that it get put back to normal, ASAP."

"I'm not moving all that furniture back myself boys," Cover Girl pointed at all other guilty parties. "Keep that in mind."

"Is there anything else?" Flint looked around the room. "If not, all daily reports are due in by eight. Thank you, and have a good day."

"So, do you have any final decisions?" Lady Jaye asked Hawk as she put the rest of her paperwork in her briefcase.

"No. Well, let's just say that I haven't written anything in stone yet." Hawk folded his hands over his chest.

Jaye shifted in her seat and put the tray up. "Those few from Ft. Hood seemed promising."

"They were impressive. So was the one from Ft. Bragg, he was good during the interview too."

"I thought he was cocky. Although he did answer all the questions right."

Hawk laughed, "You caught that too."

"Yes, I look for those things," She paused. "Not that anything I think matters in this situation, I'm just the assistant." Her voice had an air of sarcasm to it.

"I appreciate the input."

"Thank you, Sir."

"You're welcome."

Jaye turned her head and looked out the window into the darkness. She heard Hawk sigh. "Is something wrong, Sir?"

"No, I'm just taking advantage of first class," He said as he reclined his seat slightly.

"I guess it's not everyday we get to travel this way. We were lucky to get these seats."

"Enjoy it while you can, we board a Tomahawk in Denver."

Jaye rolled her eyes. "It figures."

"Lady Jaye?"

"Yes, Sir?"

"Give me a nudge if I start to snore," He winked.

"Of course, Sir. Have a good nap." She clicked off his overhead lamp. Keeping hers on, she reached back into her brief case and pulled out a book. The one good thing about redeye flights is the quietness. Opening to the page she had left off on, she sighed and dove into the world of horror. It was not typically what she would read but it was on the table in the rec room. She was hooked from page one.

"What are you reading?" Hawk's voice startled her.

"John Saul. Is my light bothering you?"

"No, I was just wondering." Hawk shifted in his heat to get more comfortable.

"I thought you were napping."

"I'm a light sleeper. Besides, I like to know things about my men when they're not on duty."

"Ahh. I see. You could always just read my file."

"Too impersonal. I'd rather just ask."  
Jaye seized the opportunity to joke with her commanding officer. She excitedly turned to him and in her best ditzy blond voice starts her act. "Well, my name is Alison, I'm a Scorpio, my interests are theater and arts, and my greatest ambition is to be a super spy. But actually I've been thinking of joining the military." She can't help but laugh at her own joke, until she realized she might have gone too far. "I'm sorry sir that was way out of line…"

Hawk looked at Jaye and smiled, "Consider this down time."

"Good, I thought I was going to get my ass kicked."

"Nice language from a lady."

"Oh, you've heard worse. Ever hear Cover Girl when she's having a bad day in the motor pool?"

"Yes I have," Hawk settled back in his seat. "It was very nice having you on this trip. You should think about doing more work like this. Your business side is impeccable. I never had to ask, or question anything, you always had it right there."

All joking aside, Lady Jaye was back to her usual business-like self. "Thank you, Sir, it's my job. I won't disturb you anymore. Get your rest."

"I was the one disturbing you. Finish reading your book."

"Yes, sir."

They were quiet for a few moments. Jaye looked up from her book to find Hawk looking at her. She put her book down slowly, not quite knowing what to expect. "Sir, is there a problem?"

"I don't get you sometimes. I think you are one of the hardest of my men to read."

She was perplexed and asked. "How so, Sir?"

"Drop the formalities. One minute you're all business, the next you're rolling off jokes. If Cobra were to take over this plane right now, you'd be in the aisle, fists flying."

Jaye knew Hawk was complimenting her; and it was nice to hear. There were very few moments that a Joe could spend talking casually with Hawk, and she was enjoying every minute of it.

"Well, have you ever heard of Sybil?" She coyly raises an eyebrow; her green eyes sparkled with laughter.

"That is exactly what I mean."

"I find that if you stay exactly one sided, your possibility of short circuiting goes up. Every now and then you have to let go. Laugh a little, live a little, do something...wild. You'd be surprised what a few minutes outside of yourself can do."

"Is that why you act?"

"Possibly," Jaye stopped to think over her answer. "I never questioned why I got into acting. I've always done it and I'm good at it."

"You're good at a lot of things. One of my little jacks-of- all- trades."

"Thank you, Sir." The words were almost inaudible.

"Now we're back to this Sir thing. That's alright. Tell that woman who was just here that I like that side of her and she should visit more often."

"I'll let her know," Jaye opened her book again and began to read.

"Remember if I snore…"  
"Give you a nudge. Rest up, Sir."

"What did I tell you about the formalities?"

"Sorry, rest up Hawk." The rest of the flight she stayed awake, reading what she could and double checking the paperwork she had done while on this trip. She would have everything in order for when they returned to the command center. Then it would be her turn to rest.

It was mid morning when the familiar sounds of the approaching Tomahawk were heard above the command center. On his way to the tarmac, Flint stopped by the recreation room to make sure it was back in order after its apparent re-arrangement. Approving of what he saw, he double-timed it to the air strip. Duke was already waiting.

"I take it you stopped by the rec room to see if it was back in order, Flint," Duke said.

"You could say that. Most of the holes are covered with pictures for now."

"What were they doing in there?" Duke spotted the Tomahawk nearing the airfield.

"Lawn darts, I was told."

"Indoors?"

"Yep. Why go outdoors when you can throw things inside?"

Duke pauses, and pondered the thought. "What were they using for darts?"

"I'm not sure. It looks as if one of Lady Jaye's javelins went through the wall."

"Good Lord," Duke put his hand to his head. "I'll assign one of the guilty to start some patch work. You said Shipwreck was there?"

"He is mixing plaster as we speak," Flint laughed, as he pictured Shipwreck making repairs.

"We'll just have to keep Hawk out of..." The rest of Duke's words were drowned out by the sounds of the landing helicopter.

"Gentlemen!" Hawk greeted them with a smile as he stepped off the chopper. "I'll brief you in my office in fifteen. I also picked up the new G.P.S. interface that Mainframe wanted. Why doesn't one of you grab it off the chopper?" Hawk started to walk towards his office. He stopped, turned around, and looked back towards Lady Jaye, "And help the lady with her bags."

Flint looked up to see Lady Jaye stepping down from the Tomahawk in her Class- B uniform. She had her briefcase in one hand and a small duffel bag over her shoulder. A few strands of her dark brown hair had fallen loose from her hat and were curling around her ears.

She never looked up to see that he was waiting there for her. When she finally got close enough, he saw the fatigue in her stance. She shifted her weight to steady her duffle.

"I'll take that for you." He grabbed the strap from her shoulder.

"I got it." Jaye answered tiredly.

"Let me get it." Flint saw that Duke had already grabbed the G.P.S. interface off the chopper and now left Flint empty handed. "Make me look useful."

"Seriously Flint, I got it."

"Are you sure?"

Jaye began to laugh, "I've been more tired and carried heavier." She led the other two towards the command center.

"So Lady Jaye," Duke inquired. "How was your vacation?"

"Vacation? Ha!" Flint found humor in Duke's questioning.

"Well," Jaye's tone was serious, "Traveling to four different bases is the best kind of time off one can have. It beats sitting on a warm sunny beach any day!"

"I would have went," Duke joked with her, "Who wants to sit on a beach? I prefer an uncomfortable cot any day. You got the chance to meet new recruits. There are not many of us who are able to do things like that."

"Maybe next time you can go," Jaye stopped to take the duffle off of her shoulder and handed it to Flint, "If you'll excuse me, I'll just need to get the extra forms Hawk will need and drop them off at his office."

She walked ahead of the two, to her own small office. Flint caught up with her. He followed her into the office and shut the door. "Everything all right?"

"Of course it is," She puts her briefcase on the desk and pulls out the paperwork she had done while on her trip. "What makes you think that there is something wrong?"

"You look exhausted to begin with."

Jaye sat at her computer and printed out a few more forms. "I am. Why should I sleep when I can work?" She laughed. "I can't wait to get a shower and get to bed."

Flint smiled at her with his lop sided grin. "Why don't you relax in a hot tub?"

"Great idea, Flint! And who would be there to pull me out of the tub after I had fallen asleep and drowned?"

"I could keep an eye on you. Make sure you're ok."

His comments made her laugh. "Don't you have anything better to do today?"

"It can be rescheduled."

She hands him the paperwork. "That's alright, I'll be fine. Perhaps you can stop by later." The last part sounded more like a request than a statement. "You better get those to Hawk before you're late."

Later that night, Hawk still had three files on his desk, His choice of potential new Joes were slimmed down to this. Two infantrymen and one light ordnance. He looked over the files again, aiming to make a decision by the end of the night. Joe had its share of infantry men, one of the three was best in his position but not by choice. However, he could do it all. Another jack of all trades.

He opened the last file. This man was a good soldier, he had great qualifications and good recommendations, but he was an annoyance to his unit. At the back of the file was a personal letter from the candidate's company commander. Hawk picked up the letter and looked at it. He knew he could never be swayed by what another man in command thought. His curiosity got the better of him and he opened it. It wasn't long, but it gave Hawk all he needed to know. _Everyone deserves a second chance_. For some on the Joe team, this was their only chance. It was that chance that pushed them to limits they themselves didn't know they had. Hopefully it would happen again and hopefully, this wasn't a mistake.

He reached for the paper on the far corner of his desk and signed his name to it. Then he picked up the phone and made his final call of the night.

Jaye reached over the side of the small couch in the common area of the quarters she shared with Cover Girl and turned the lamp off. It left the room lit only by the small television that was on the opposite wall. It wasn't late night yet, but it was well after dinner and the night watch had already begun. This left the quarters quiet as well, and just how she wanted it tonight.

It had been hours from the time she returned to base and the time she finally was able to relax. Between being welcomed back from everyone from Ace to Zap, and the frequent calls from Hawk, she had thought the day was never going to end. Intelligence reports were piled up on her desk, and just when she would start reading one, Hawk would call her to his office to go over the candidates with Duke and Flint. Then it was back to her office. She would settle in, and the phone would ring again. This time it was Roadblock, asking if she had time to come down to the kitchen to taste the recipe he had been tweaking all morning, and if she needed a snack there was one waiting for her. The next call was from Shipwreck, he had to tell her about his trip to the movies while she was gone. He also asked her to go wit him the next time he went, which as much as it annoyed her, always did bring a smile to her face.

She went back to reading another report, and just as she was about to write notes for them, she noticed all of her pens were missing. Then it was off to Alpine's office to retrieve them. Back to her office, then to Hawk's, then finally to her quarters.

She curled her legs up around her and put her head on the arm rest to watch the end of a late night talk show.

"Don't lay like that honey," Flint walked out of her bedroom carrying a blanket. "It's making my neck hurt."

"I'm comfortable like this."

He sat next to her and pulled her over to him, but she stayed curled up. He put the blanket around them both and took the remote from her. "Since your going to fall asleep, I'm turning this garbage off."

"I'm not that tired anymore." She grabbed the remote back.

"So," He hesitated, "Is there anyone I need to worry about coming into Joe?"

Jaye sighed in annoyance, "Not on that level, but I would advise you get out on the track and run a few extra laps."

"Is that a cut?"

"Maybe," She gave him one of her sweet smiles to let him know she was just busting his chops. "There were a few that were just..."

"What?"

"I shouldn't be telling you anything."

"I know. Well, just tell me about one that didn't make it through the interviews."

"Well, there was this one guy, such a smart mouth. He was cocky and rude, a total ass."

"Really? There are people like that in the armed forces?"

"Ok, you were cocky, you still are, but this guy was way off the chart. His qualifications were good, but it was as if he wasn't even trying. As if he didn't care. He acted like his interview was a joke. And I'm telling you, if I ever got stuck out in the field with him, it would not be a good thing."

"Alright, two important questions. Did he out rank you? And was he good looking?"

"What kind of questions are those! No he doesn't and no he wasn't. Dashiell, sometimes I swear..."

"Well think about this. If he didn't want to try, then he won't be here, and you won't have to deal with him."

"I hope not." She rested her head on his shoulder and the two stayed quiet for a while.

"So," Flint changes the subject as he runs his fingers through her hair, "Anything else happen today?"

"Alpine stole all of my pens."

"Again?" He laughed.

"Yeah." Jaye grew tired by the minute. "Shipwreck asked me out to see a movie."

"Oh he did?"

"Yeah."

"Are you going?" He looks down to see her sound asleep. "Allie? Alison?" She murmurerd a reply to her name. "See you tomorrow, honey." He kissed her forehead, made himself more comfortable on the couch, and let her sleep in his arms.


	3. Welcome to GI Joe

_Disclaimer: Characters in this work (GI Joe/ Cobra) are the property of Marvel Comics, Hasbro  
and Devil's Due Publishing, Inc , and are being used without permission. No profit is gained from the use of these characters._

_Rowan Michaels (a.k.a. Trigger), Mirrored Reflections, and the Diamondback are of my own creation_

_Thanks to: DesertFox for her work, JohnF. , I would not know Rowan, if I did not know you, and to Jai for the push . . . _

**Diamond in the Rough**

By Nickelina

**Welcome to GI Joe**

Hawk's morning meeting was interrupted by a knocking at the door.

"Come in."

Lady Jaye slowly opened the door. She saw Flint and Duke seated in front of Hawk, and she knew she was interrupting an important meeting. "I'm sorry, I'll come back."

"What is it, Lady Jaye?" Hawk noticed that she held a file in her hand.

"It's not important, Sir. I'll come back later."

"You have the correct file." He answered the question he knew she was about to ask him. Hawk knew what her thoughts were on that particular new recruit and he thought he could slip it past her as normal work. "As a matter of fact, it was just what we were discussing. Would you like to join us?"

Jaye hesitated. She didn't think that this recruit would be one of Hawk's top choices; they had talked about it on the way back to the command center. Any comments she would make would fall on deaf ears. Besides, there would be no way Flint would come to her rescue if she were to slip up and say something that would get her on report if Hawk were sitting in front of him as well. "No sir. I just wanted to make sure that you had given me the correct one," She held the file up for Hawk to see. "You had a quite a few files to look through."

"No, there was no mistake. He's our man."

A look of disbelief crossed her face. "Well, if I may, Sir," Lady Jaye's tone was full of defiance as she began to speak, she stopped when she saw Flint looking at her with a warning glance.

"Yes?" Hawk answered her back. He stood up and crossed his arms over his chest. It was his way of showing her he would listen to what she was about to say, but she was treading on thin ice.

"I thought..."

"You thought?"

"I..." She looked over at Flint, whose eyes were screaming at her to stop before she got started.

"I'm waiting, Corporal."

Jaye looked at the floor briefly, then back at her superiors. "I'll just get this started. Does he have a codename yet?"

"Do you have any suggestions?" Hawk asked her,knowing that she had backed down.

Lady Jaye could not believe what she was hearing. This was the recruit who joked his way through the interview, the one who didn't care. This recruit was the one that Hawk was supposed to forget. She must have seen something in the interview process that Hawk did not. She knew this recruit did not belong in GI Joe. Jaye thought she had let her feelings known to Hawk, and he would consider picking one of the other recruits. Now Hawk was asking her if she had suggestions for a codename. Jaye had to keep her temper in check this time. She took a moment to think of a fitting name. _Dumbass, Lazy, Incorrigible, Nitwit, and Moron do come to mind. No, those will not work. _"No sir, I do not."

"Well, then, I'll let you know what we come up with."

"Thank you, sir." She turned on her heel and firmly shut the door behind her.

With the door securely shut, Hawk closed his eyes, folded his arms over his chest and sighed. After taking a few deep breaths, he continued his meeting. "So, where were we?"

"I see she doesn't approve." Duke was the first to comment on Lady Jaye's attitude as he set his papers on the corner of Hawk's desk.

"Stubborn. That woman is just plain stubborn." Hawk uncrossed his arms.

"If you would like, Sir I could talk to her." Flint tried his best to cover her tracks. "Tell her to keep her personal feelings about new Joes to herself. She should have never done that."

"Oh quit trying to cover for her Flint, she knows better." Hawk stood up and started to pace the room. "I've had to play referee to her before. It's your turn now."

"Do you think that's a good idea, Sir?" Duke laughed at the thought of Flint having to be between Jaye and her newest adversary.

"Yes, I do. I will not have yet another boxing match between her and another Joe."

"That was totally my fault, Sir." Flint rubbed the side of his face, remembering the day, and where Jaye had punched him.

"I'm sure it was." Hawk paused. "He'll need to shadow someone his first few days. I know just who should do it. If you'll excuse me gentlemen, I'm going to have a little talk with Corporal Hart-Burnett.

Specialist Rowan Michaels finished folding the rest of his personal clothing and sorting it on his bunk. His military issued duffle was on the floor only half full. If what he had didn't fit in it, it wasn't going with him. Ironic, he thought, his entire life fit into a duffel. That was the way he wanted it; the way he needed it. It was better that way, nothing to worry about, no attachments, nothing to root him down. He had learned early, you never knew what life was going to throw at you and you had to be ready to move at any time. That thinking stemmed from the fact that he never truly had a home. Rowan had grown up that way; he was always moving around, being shuffled from home to home for much of his childhood. He always craved some sort of stability however, the notion of being in one place for a long time made him uneasy.

He was one of the forgotten children. Somehow he fell through the cracks in the system and was never placed in a long term foster home. When he was old enough, he went out on his own. He could never depend on anyone before and he would not start now. He always had to look out for himself and that was his mind set.

Rather than turn to a life on the streets like so many other in his situation, he made the choice to join the armed forces. The Army gave him the stability he needed, with the prospect to move if he needed. Not to mention a roof over his head, and decent food on his plate. It was all that his recruiter told him it would be, plenty of excitement, travel and the ability to do hands on work which was something he loved. With all of his hard work came the rewards that he deserved.

Rowan took his basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia. He sailed through basic and his infantry training and was one of the best in his unit, despite that fact that he did as little as possible to get the job done. His interest in armory and a knack for refurbishing and fabricating his own small arms on his free time caught the eye of his CO who suggested that he transfer his MOS to ordnance, where he could use his skills on a daily basis. He transferred to Fort Knox, Kentucky shortly after.

Because of his upbringing, Rowan was always on the defensive. He was always the guy to talk back, the guy who never threw the first punch, but landed you one square in the jaw if you were to hit him. He never worked well with people, and did not want the help from others in his unit. He liked to work alone, and only asked for help when it was absolutely necessary. He had a few scuffles on base which he received a slap on the hand for. Shoving matches in the barracks and practical jokes that always went to far were just the tip of the iceberg. His commanding officers often overlooked these because Rowan was too valuable and asset to his unit for anything drastic to be done. His behavior did not change when he left base either, in fact it was worse. He had numerous fights in public places that ranged from arguments with strangers to fist fights. The last fight ended with him breaking the windshield of a civilian car and injuring the driver after insults were traded after bar close. After this, his second encounter with the local police, the decision was made to demote Rowan to a National Guard Unit. Fort Knox did not want anymore of Rowan's bad publicity. His CO hoped that his time spent with the National Guard would help him control his temper, so he could come back as a useful part of the unit. Like all the other moves in his life, Rowan had the feeling that this move was going to be for the worse. His gut feeling told him that he was never going to come back to this unit and he would be spending the rest of his career babysitting at a National Guard Unit.

His new unit was the 778th Ordnance unit located at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin. He loved his work there. His move there was nothing but a blessing in disguise. It made him realize why he made the decision to join the Army in the first place. He poured himself in his work and worked harder than he ever had. He helped keep the unit running smoothly, and offered his experiences and skills to anyone who needed it. His changed his way of thinking and improved attitude showed more and more each day.

Northern Wisconsin reminded Rowan of his early childhood in New Hampshire. He even took time on his days off to go fishing and camping, things he never had the chance to do when he was a kid. He was finally making peace with the demons of his late childhood and teenage years. Rowan was realizing that keeping in all the bad feelings were his downfall and he had to accept the road he had traveled and that he needed to learn from it.

After nine months at Fort McCoy, Rowan received a phone call from a former Commanding Officer from Fort Benning, who was now at Fort Bragg. His unit there, after a review of his progress wanted to re-instate Michaels. Rowan looked forward to the move, although he had a few good acquaintances at Mc Coy, he knew that once he left they would never write, never call. And that was exactly what happened. He was again out on his own.

He was not ready for what was in store for him once he got to North Carolina. Teasing and harassment were always a part of being new in a unit, and it seemed as if every one knew his history before he got there. The harassment was constant and Rowan felt himself slipping back into his old habits fast. That is what caused the first fight. His first time on report. Then another fight, and another time on report. He knew the next time he was called into his CO's office it would be the end of his career. He tried to concentrate on his work, and not let anyone else bother him. But his bad mouth always seemed to get him into trouble. His hard work earned his respect from his superiors, but not the respect of the other men in his unit. But what did he care about them? They were not his friends, he had no friends, and no desire to have any either.

_The only person I ever considered friend had turned out to be someone who betrayed my trust. I learned a hard lesson that time. Never tell anyone your secrets, your fears, or your dreams. If you do, they leave. Just likemy family had left me. _He shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts. He didn't want the demons returning like they always did._ You are alone, you will always be alone._ He ran his fingers through his sandy blond hair and straightened himself to stand his full six feet. He was frustrated. Pulling on a few strands of hair that were near his forehead, he made a mental note to get it cut before he started duty at the new base. A haircut was a good beginning to yet another change in his life. He wanted to make a better impression than he did the first time that he met with General Hawk.

He checked his watch and realized that he only had a half hour before his transport left. "Time to stop fucking around Rowan!" He said aloud to himself, cramming the rest of his belongings into his duffel. The last two remaining items he held in his hand. One, the only picture he had of his parents that was now torn and tattered, the other his formal letter from General Hawk inviting him to join the GI Joe team. He opened the letter and read it one more time. With tears swelling in his blue-grey eyes he whispered, "Mom, look what I accomplished! Dad you are gonna be so proud of me. I am now one of the best."

He turned around to make sure that no one was looking at him and wiped his eyes. Another private he shared his room with walked in and near his bunk. Rowan quickly put the picture and paper into his pocket. He shoved the rest of his belongings into his packs and started to walk out the door.

"Hey, Michaels! Where are you going?" the private called out.

"I got a promotion. I'm leaving this dump." Rowan answered back.

"You? Mr. Bad Attitude? What promotion did you get? Bullet stuffing or permanent latrine duty?"

"That sounds more up your alley, dude. Matter of fact, I was told that is your new duty. General Clayton Abernathy summoned me. I'm probably going to the Pentagon."

"Whatever man, you're a fool."

"Fool, my ass. You know what, dude?" Rowan looked thoughtfully at the private, "Jealousy will get you nowhere." He picked up his pack and never looked back as he walked out of his room at Fort Bragg for the last time.


	4. Into the Fire

_Disclaimer: Characters in this work (GI Joe/ Cobra) are the property of Marvel Comics, Hasbro  
and Devil's Due Publishing, Inc , and are being used without permission. No profit is gained from the use of these characters._

_Rowan Michaels (a.k.a. Trigger), Mirrored Reflections, and the Diamondback are of my own creation_

_Thanks to: DesertFox for her work, JohnF. , I would not know Rowan, if I did not know you, and to Jai for the push . . . _

**Diamond in the Rough**

By Nickelina

**Into The Fire**

The first few weeks in Joe were harder than Rowan had thought. Although he knew this was going to be different, he never thought he would be exhausted after morning PT. He would tell himself over and over again that his drill instructor was a maniac while he was on his five mile run every morning. Beach Head would work them to the ground and just when they got up they were back down again. He was thankful though, he knew he was going to be in top shape for the ladies, and there were a few around to impress.

Rowan headed down to Operations to go over more weapon and vehicle details. This was the third day he had been looking over all of this information. Although he knew about standard military weapons, the Joes had a few things that he had never worked with. Learning about Cobra's systems was interesting, but how many diagrams could one look at before they went crazy? Learning had to be hands on for him. Reading and taking notes was not his cup of tea. To make matters worse, the room his was in had no windows, there was nothing to distract him, even briefly while he was switching from one diagram to the next. The woman who was there during his interview, the one who always gave him disapproving looks, was the one who he had to shadow. He looked up and saw her sitting on the other side of the room. She wasn't exactly the nicest person he had even met. She seemed too busy to be bothered by him. They called her Lady Jaye. Occasionally, she would drop off another disk of information for him to load into the computer he was working on. He once asked her if she had read all of this information.

"Yes, and them some." she had replied

He asked her if she was a human computer later that day. She thought it not as humorous as he had and walked away without answering.

He knew she didn't like him; she only talked to him when she had to. There was always a stream of Joes stopping in to say hello to her, and she always had time for them. But that was alright for him. There was something about her that sparked his interest. He really wanted to get to know her, but he knew better. _One less friend, one less attachment._

All the diagrams and notes were getting to him. He pushed the monitor away from him and stood up.

"What's wrong?" Lady Jaye asked, looking up from the console she was at.

"My ass hurts! My eyes are killing me!" Rowan grabbed his eyes as if in pain. The others in the room stopped what they were doing to watch him. "What are you trying to do to me?"

Jaye walked over to Rowan and put her hand on his shoulder. "Michaels, why don't you go down to themess halland get a cup of coffee? Stretch your legs a bit."

_Could it be that she was being nice? _Rowan thought. "Well ok, I guess it will help."

"Good. Now go, stop making an ass out of yourself and disrupting everyone else."

He should have known it was too good to last. "I'm gonna stretch my legs and drink some of the great military coffee you have here. You just can't get enough of that."

Jaye walked back to her console and sat down. It was a few minutes before she realized that Mainframe and Dial-Tone were talking about her. "What?"

"Oil and water is what my mom used to say," Dial-Tone said as he turned back to his console.

"I don't know what it is about him. It's as if his very presence bothers me. I don't know why. I have never been like that with anyone here." Jaye turned back to the console.

Both of the men snickered at that.

"Come on!" Jaye turned back around to face them.

"Think about it Lady Jaye." Mainframe said.

She cocked her head to the side and thought about it. "Well, there was that bad start with Scarlett." She paused and thought some more. "I could not stand Flint, Beachhead and I still rub each other the wrong way. Cover Girl has grown on me. And I do have that tendency to call Shipwreck a moron," Jaye gasps. "Oh my, does this make me a bad person?"

"Well", Mainframe turned back to the main computer, "You won't be Miss Congeniality today. How do you feel about those people now? They say first impressions are important. Sometimes you have to get to know someone. Give him a chance."

Rowan sat in the nearly empty mess hall, and picked a table in the corner, where no one else sitting. He didn't feel like being bothered right now. He put his cup down and closed his eyes._ All of this reading was ridiculous._ Joe hasn't even seen battle with COBRA in some time. Reading wasn't going to get him anywhere. "Just put a weapon in my hand and I'm good to go", he thought. Why did he really need to know how Cobra Hiss tanks operated? He wouldn't be driving one. All he needed to know was what ordnance was on it, and what caliber it was. He had already looked over the Joe equipment and had been excited to work on some of the weapons and vehicles that they had.

Even though he knew this was different from the other bases he had been at, he couldn't shake the feeling of being on the outside. From what he saw, there was no inner circle in GI Joe. It seemed like regardless of rank everyone was pretty much on the same level. Ordnance was sometimes looked down upon, no matter what branch of the military you were in. Rowan laughed to himself, without ordnance, they would all be throwing rocks and sticks at each other.

"You're the new guy, aren't you?"

Rowan was startled to see a cheery red head standing in front of him. "Yes, I am. Well, that's what they are calling me, anyway."

"I'm sorry I didn't get to meet you earlier, I was out on assignment. You know how that goes. I'm Ripcord." He extended his hand, and Rowan shook it. "Welcome aboard. So have you been assigned to quarters yet, or are they shuffling you around?"

Rowan looked down at his coffee. "I'm in room 314."

"Really? Well it looks as if were bunkmates, I'm the other Joe in 314. It's about time I got a roommate. Don't worry about me, I'm a quiet guy, I won't bother you too much."

"Great." Rowan hated to admit it, but he was glad that it was Ripcord who he was in quarters with; he seemed to be getting along with him pretty well.

"So," Ripcord said as he made himself comfortable across from Rowan, "Where are you working? Are you shadowing anyone?"

"Uh, you mean the one showing me around and giving me an encyclopedia collection worth of information to look at? That would be...uh what's her name."

Ripcord laughed. "Ok, what does she look like? I think I can narrow it down for you."

"Short brown hair."

"Lady Jaye! So, you're Intelligence?"

"No, I'm not. I have nothing to do with Intelligence. She's an Intel Specialist?"

"Our very own Covert Ops specialist. Probably the best we have. Lady Jaye is one of the best people to show you the ropes, she the most patient person I know when she not in the field. She's a great listener and probably the smartest person I know. Besides, it never hurts to know your way around the Operations Center either"

"She's not mean to you?" Rowan took a sip of his coffee.

"Let's put it this way. Lady Jaye has her days. But usually she's not mean to people. Annoyed is more like it. She gets annoyed with people. I've known her since right before we came to Joe. So I know her moods a little bit better than some. Anyway," Ripcord changes the subject. "What is your primary MOS then?"

"Ordnance."

"Light or heavy?"

"Light, but don't let that fool you. I like to make my own."

"Wow that takes a lot of skill. I'm impressed. If I need anything, you'll be the man to go to then; I'll definitely keep you in mind. I'm airborne. A HALO jumper actually."

"That's cool." Rowan cleared his throat to signal that he was through with his part of the conversation. "I gotta go."

"Well, I'll see you later. If you have any questions you know where to find me."

"_Oh, ok,"_ Rowan thought to himself, _"A dude who jumps out of planes is going to help a lot." _

As he started to walk away, he heard Ripcord ask him one more question. Ripcord wanted to know his name. Rowan turned on his heel and with a smile on his face answered, "They call me Trigger."

Trigger's walk back to Operations was slow. After his conversation with Ripcord, he knew that things were not going to be so bad. He knew that with GI Joe he knew that the sky was the limit; going down the ladder was something he didn't want to think about. The people here were generally nice and they wanted to get to know him. Maybe for once he could be part of the inner circle. He had a spring to his step as he rounded the corner to Operations. Maybe it was time he made a few attachments.

"Trigger! Did you go on vacation?" Lady Jaye was standing in the doorway with her hands on her hips. "Where have you been?"

_Then again, maybe not._

"No, not a vacation, although that would be nice. You told me to get some coffee and stretch my legs, remember?" Trigger walked past her and into the room, without glancing at her.

"Nice attitude." She turned away from him and sat at the table he had been working at. "Come, sit with me."

Trigger put an arrogant expression on and sat across from her. He folded his hands and placed them on the table. Whatever she was going to give to him, he was going to give right back. She did not scare him.

She smiled at him and began. "Hypothetical situation. What if there was no such thing as Ordnance? What else would you be doing?"

Trigger opened his mouth to answer, and she cut him off.

"It doesn't even have to do with your specialty. You have the possibility to learn anything. Computer specialist, sniper, cook, ninja?"

"Well, what is it you do?" He squinted his eyes. "Are you a ninja?"

"No." She kept her cool, because she knew he was making fun of her. "Covert Ops."

"Hmm..." Trigger thought for a moment. "That is what I would do then."

"What?"

"Covert Ops. I would be Covert Ops."

Lady Jaye mounted her counterattack. "Well that is non-existent as well."

"It can't be, because then you would not be here either."

"That is off limits too."

"Well then, I guess I'd be a ninja."

Jaye was not impressed with his attitude. "Be serious, Trigger, word has come down from the top." If there was one thing Lady Jaye was good at, it was lying.

He kept his poker face on. Inside it felt as if he had been shot. There was no way he was going back to Fort Bragg. "You have no use for me?"

"It's not that. We just seem to have a ton of green-shirts in ordnance right now. Personally I was thinking that you could work with Stalker, he does ordnance disposal."

"Nope. I don't _do_ disposal."

Jaye closed her eyes and placed her hands in her lap to prevent herself from reaching across the table and striking Trigger. "Do you always talk to people like this?"

"Yep."

"Alright then, let me be brutally honest with you. Trigger, you were brought to this team to be ordnance. Since we have people already working in that area General Hawk put you here, in Operations. I personally don't think your cut out for it, and it's obvious you really don't want to be in Operations. So, I want to find something else for you right now. In time, we would love to have you in here. But I need to see the drive and the focus."

"I like to work with my hands. I don't like this reading crap."

Jaye looked at Trigger and saw the light go out of his eyes and his shoulders sunk just a bit. The words she was telling him could not be easy to take. "Well, that is a start. We'll just find something that will keep your hands busy."

Trigger only grunted an answer to her, but he was happy to finally do something he thought would be more productive.

"We're not kicking you out," she paused. "You need hands on work?" Jaye thought for a moment and a smile crept across her face. "Give me a minute." Jaye walked over to a phone and made a quick call that Trigger could not hear. "Hey Trigger?" She said as she hung up. "Do you like vehicles?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Good, it seems as if they need some help fixing up some of the vehicles. Maybe even putting new ordnance on them. Are you game?"

Trigger smiled at her. "Baby that is what I'm here for."

"What did you just call me?"

"Baby, baby."

"That is _not _my name." She turned her back to him and walked to the doorway, where she was almost plowed over by Cover Girl.

"I'm here!" Cover Girl said as she stepped out of the way of Lady Jaye.

Trigger turned at the sound of a new voice and saw the tall strawberry blond standing there.

"You must be Trigger." She extended her hand. "I'm Cover Girl and I'll take good care of you."

"I bet you will." He looked her up and down, and then turned to Jaye. "Where am I going?"

"The Motor pool. Where you can put your hands all over our vehicles." Jaye patted him on the back. "Remember what I said, Trigger. Be focused."

"Well, the motor pool must be heaven if I'm going there with her." Trigger pointed at Cover Girl and whistled.

"Stop!" Jaye was at her wits' end.

"Why? You shunned me."

"No I didn't!"

"I know I'm not good enough for you." Trigger put on his best John Wayne voice. "You think yer gonna run me out of here? Well, yer wrong, mister. There isn't enough room in this town for the both of us." He acted as if he was pulling a pistol from a holster around his waist, and pointed his imaginary gun at her. "Draw yer gun."

Cover Girl couldn't help laugh at Jaye's expense.

"I'm not drawing anything! Why can't you just be serious? This is your job!"

"Because you treat me like a child."

Jaye practically pushed Trigger through the doorway. "Go with Cover Girl. I'm done with you." She walked to the table to put the spare laptop away.

"Come hither, Trigger." Cover Girl put her arm around him. "Let's go to the motor pool. We'll leave these guys alone. They obviously don't know how to have fun." She turned around and winked at Jaye. "See you later, don't kill anyone."


	5. Pushing Buttons

_Disclaimer: Characters in this work (GI Joe/ Cobra) are the property of Marvel Comics, Hasbro  
and Devil's Due Publishing, Inc , and are being used without permission. No profit is gained from the use of these characters._

_Rowan Michaels (a.k.a. Trigger), Mirrored Reflections, and the Diamondback are of my own creation_

_Thanks to: DesertFox for her work, JohnF. , I would not know Rowan, if I did not know you, and to Jai for the push . . . _

**Diamond in the Rough**

By Nickelina

**Pushing Buttons**

Cobra Commander swirled around in his chair, putting his back to the other people in the room. The deal he had just made with Extensive Enterprises would pay the company back for the money it had put forward for CORBA's present loan. By selling the smaller, not less pure stones to Extensive Enterprises, COBRA would be recouping their some of their losses. It would also allow COBRA to keep an eye on what was on the market if the diamond they were seeking would come from a mine they did not own.

Only a handful of diamonds had been found for the original Diamondback. Then again they were only looking for a few months. Refining and cutting took time. The smaller prototype worked better than they had expected. The targets Destro had used had all but incinerated when hit with the laser. The beam was not powerful enough to destroy a larger target so the search was on again for a larger, more perfect diamond.

With Extensive Enterprises in control of the diamonds already in their possession, they set up a diamond buying headquarters in Las Vegas under the company name Mirrored Reflections. This would give prospective buyers another place to view and buy diamonds with out having to travel to New York, or Amsterdam. Also, Las Vegas was more comfortable than the jungles of Venezuela.

The Commander turned back around and faced the Crimson Command Twins, Tomax and Xamot. "Settled."

"Very well then, Commander." The twins replied.

"You will pay Cobra forty-five percent of all your profits from the sale of these diamonds."

"Forty-five percent? That does seem quite high." Xamot tried to reason with the Commander. "How about thirty?"

"Forty-five and that's final. I'm sure Destro will want a cut of my profit as well, he always does."

The twins sighed, "Very well then, forty-five it is. But to whom and where we sell is none of your business."

Cobra Commander leaned back in his chair. "I can't agree to that. I, as well as M.A.R.S., want them to be screened. GI Joe can not be trusted. Sticking their noses into our business all the time. As long as you know who you are selling to, I get forty-five percent."

Tomax and Xamot looked at each other. Dealing with the commander was always very taxing.

"We have two of your shipments. As good business men, we would like to be there to pick up the next." Xamot started.

"When it arrives." Tomax finished.

"Of course, of course." The commander's eyes squinted evilly. He was already thinking of a way to cheat the Twins out of the best of the lot. "But why go all the way to Venezuela? How about a closer meting place?"

"No trip is too long when it comes to diamonds."

The commander got up and walked to the other side of the desk, to the large windows. He looked past the Las Vegas strip and into the sprawling city. "We have a strong hold in the village of Las Ojos de Christo in Mexico, outside of Nogales. We can meet there."

"Do not try to fool us commander," Tomax was wise to the Commander's dealings. Cobra Commander had tried and succeeded in swindling money from Extensive Enterprises before. He was not about to let it happen again. "Remember who is footing the bill."

"Do you think I am stupid?" Cobra Commander said with anger building in his voice.

The twins did not answer him.

"I will inform you of your next shipment."

Xamot cleared his throat. "Will you be returning to Venezuela?"

"Why?" The Commander snapped.

"We were just inquiring. Destro has already left for Europe."

"For a short time only. That jungle heat and all those insects drive me crazy. I will be meeting Destro in Amsterdam."

"Very well Commander, we will wait for your call."

The Commander waved his hand to excuse them. He was glad the meeting was over. His hired masseuse was on the way to his room. He couldn't help but think how smoothly things were running. This time, COBRA was going to surface with a bang and no one was going to stop them.

Jaye sat at the large table in the meeting room spinning her empty coffee cup in a circle with her fingers as she stared blankly across the room at the map of South America. She was early to the meeting that Hawk had called and was enjoying the quiet before the others showed up; silently praying that Trigger would not be there. Things were not getting any better between them. As hard as she tried, she just could not be around him for very long before he got on her nerves. After she had removed him from Operations, Hawk had sent him right back with a stern warning that if she tried to move him again, it would be Jaye who was moved to the motor pool. She never initiated conversation with him but they often did talk as a group there, usually about what was on television or recent stories they had read in the newspaper. He really wasn't a bad guy. He was simply someone she would ever want to work with on a close basis. They were able to have small short conversations that would end up in some sort of irritated statement, usually by her. Trigger disagreed with everything she said or did.

Lady Jaye could not figure out why Hawk wanted him in Ops. _Maybe he wants me to go insane. _Hawk had made many decisions about things she didn't understand the reasoning behind, but she fully trusted everything he did. She knew there was a reason why he made the decisions he did and never questioned it. As with other Joes, she had to work with him and she would just have to get used to it, no matter how long it took. So far, and thankfully, the only time they had worked together was an occasional briefing and sharing notes during morning meetings when they would have to sit next to each other. Her notes were always very neat and detailed; Trigger's werenothing but doodles and stick-men.

Trigger's attitude seemed to have been getting better. The only problem was her attitude was getting worse. When things bothered her she never let it show. Recently it was getting hard for her to hide frustration. It was showing in her work, and with Flint. She would spend the better part of her alone time with him complaining about how her day went being stuck in the same room with Trigger. Thinking of Flint and reminded her to apologize to him for the fight they had the night before when she told him she didn't want to hear about his problems, when all he did was listen to hers. She didn't notice that someone had entered the room.

"Yep! That's a map!" Trigger said as he patted her on the head and jarred her out of her trance. "Awfully pretty too. Look at all those colors."

"Please don't touch me. You're lucky I didn't turn around and snap your arm off," Jaye did not turn around to look at who was talking to her; she already knew it was Trigger.

Trigger sat down across from her and smiled. "No you wouldn't have. You're a girl. Anyway, how are you this morning?"

"I was doing fine."

He leaned in close to her and whispered, "What were you staring at?"

"I was thinking."

Hawk and the others had started to file in.

"No, I was watching you," Trigger spoke louder now. "You were staring."

"I said I was thinking."

"Staring."

Jaye rolled her eyes at him and motioned for Cover Girl to sit next to her. She looked at Trigger and snapped at him. "Don't talk to me, alright."

"I won't, don't stare at me, alright." He snapped back, mocking her tone.

Cover Girl could not resist jumping in on the conversation. "Kids, kids play nice. You were staring at him? Jaye! Do I have to tell...?"

"I was not, just forget it." Jaye straightened her notebook and looked toward the head of the table, ignoring both Cover Girl and Trigger.

Trigger smiled wisely at Cover Girl, and she moved around the table to sit next to him. Ripcord sat next to Lady Jaye. He looked at her, then at Trigger.

"What did you do now?" Ripcord said to Trigger as he sat.

"I didn't do anything. She's just being," he winked at Jaye, "mean."

"You be nice Trigg!" Cover Girl warned.

Hawk called the meeting to order. Flint, Duke, and Dusty had also joined them this morning. Hawk cleared his throat and addressed his team. "The Cobra pot is coming to a boil. Their organization has been quiet for too long. Various intelligence reports have come to my attention and it looks like this might be big. A weapon, like nothing we have faced before. Cobra needs one more component for their prototype to be complete, and it's up to us to stop them." Hawk walked to the projector and flipped it on. "This is the Diamondback." A drawing of a rather large, missile launcher was displayed.

"That's nothing." Trigger whispered to Cover Girl. He began to scribble on a piece of paper.

"It looks like a missile launcher." Flint said.

"No, I have to disagree with Flint." Duke commented. "It looks similar to a truck mounted RADAR"

"It's not RADAR at all, just made to look like one. This," Hawk flipped to another picture, "is a smaller version of it. A laser gun."

"Doesn't Cobra already have them? What's different about this one?" Cover Girl asked.

"This one," Hawk sat on the corner of the table, "is fitted with a diamond amplifier."

"Meaning?" Dusty asked.

"Stronger, hotter, more destructive." Flint added.

"Exactly." Hawk flipped through the slides showing different views of the weapon. "Lady Jaye."

Jaye walked over to the map and took over the presentation. "Over the past few months, the world's diamond production has gone up. A surge of small, high quality stones have been arriving in Amsterdam. The thing is, they are not coming from South Africa, or even the Ivory Coast. They came from here." She pointed to the map of Venezuela.

"Normally, the government would have a part in an operation that was pumping out so many stones. But its not. It's a small company called Mirrored Reflections, a subsidiary of Extensive Enterprises. The only way to get to Mirrored Reflections is through them, which leads us to believe that maybe it's a COBRA front."

"Do we have any other proof of this?" Flint asked.

"At this point no. The only possible link is this recon photo that was taken in Mexico. Arbco seems to be moving the cargo from Venezuela to Mexico, then to Europe."

"Arbco has done legit stuff in the past," Ripcord added.

"But not much," Dusty laughed.

Trigger whispered to Cover Girl. "What's Arbco?"

"Dummy COBRA Corporation." Cover Girl whispered back.

"Oh." He was not impressed, and resumed his drawing.

"What is COBRA waiting for?" Hawk asked.

"The perfect diamond." Trigger never looked up from his drawing and never missed a beat.

"Care to elaborate, Trigger?" Duke prodded.

"Uh, duh! If you had a weapon like that, wouldn't you wait for the best of the best? I know I would."

Jaye slammed down her note pad and shook her head at Trigger. She caught Hawk looking at her, but she could no longer mask her frustration.

"Alright discussion time." Flint started. "Why would the perfect diamond be essential for this product?"

Trigger elbowed Cover Girl. "I feel like I'm in school."

"Be quiet, you're going to get us in trouble."

"You are no fun." Trigger said as he frowned at Cover Girl.

Jaye gritted her teeth. "Shut up."

"Trigger, do you have something to add?" Flint pointed him out.

"Nope. I mean nah, I mean uhh, no sir!"

The room grew eerily silent as everyone at the table held their breath waiting to see what Flint would do. No one got away with talking to him in that manner while in a meeting. The last time anyone had talked to Flint like that they were escorted out of the room and were not allowed to participate on that mission. Often times those people found themselves on report, as well. Trigger was skating on thin ice. The tension was building in the room and Dusty tried to ease it by informing everyone of what he knew about a diamond's potential.

Jaye did not mean to, but she tuned Dusty out. She could not believe how Trigger was acting. Finally the seniors were seeing what he was really like. _Not paying attention, no serious answers to any question. And all this joking around._ She was really expecting to see Flint pick Trigger up by his collar and throw him out of the room. This was not the time for games. There were countless times that after a meeting as such, she was stuffing a pack and boarding a transport plane for a mission. If that were to happen today, they would all be in big trouble.

She was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of Cover Girl's stifled laugh. Trigger had been twirling Jaye's empty coffee cup while staring at the wall behind her, purposely making fun of her.

He received one of the iciest stares that Jaye had ever given anyone; and it did not go unnoticed. Cover Girl stopped smiling. Ripcord, who was on the other side of Jaye sat up straight, ready to move if need be. Even Flint noticed something wasn't right with that section of the table. He shot them a look of warning. Trigger slid the cup back over to Jaye and resumed writing on his paper.

Hawk walked to the end of the table and stood behind Jaye. He rested his hands on the back of her chair. "So, what should be our plan of action?"

"We have planned another recon mission," Flint began. "We're going on information acquired by Intel. A visit to Mirrored Reflections."

Lady Jaye gave Trigger a smart, know-it-all look. "Mirrored Reflections has an office in Las Vegas, for preferred buyers. We go there, and snoop around a bit."

"Yes, take any information that we can from there. If it's legitimate, then there has to be another way that COBRA is getting any diamonds. If it's not, well, then we know where to strike." Hawk, who had been watching Trigger the whole time, reached over the table and took his paper from him. "We will have a standby team ready just in case. Lady Jaye, you're our girl, you are going in."

Jaye smiled, knowing that Hawk fully trusted her to do what she did best with no questions asked.

"We are going to team you up with..."

Jaye did a quick survey of the room. Hopefully she would be teamed up with Ripcord, the last time they had worked together went very well. Or perhaps Dusty, who she never had the chance to work with in her intelligence capacity. She felt Hawk's hand on her shoulder as he said the word.

"Trigger."

She dropped her pen on the table and stared at Trigger in disbelief.

"I think this would be a great opportunity for him to get his feet wet. Besides, he's a fresh face COBRA may not be on to." Hawk looked over at Trigger. "Think you're ready?"

Trigger leaned back in his chair and gave Jaye a cocky grin. "Oh yeah. I'm always ready. Yo Joe."

"Very well then." Hawk turned the meeting back over to Flint, who was handing out the briefs. He sat back at the head of the table and kept his eye on Jaye and Trigger.

With the meeting over, the group of Joes split into three sections of a strike force. Flint, Cover Girl, Lady Jaye and Trigger were finalizing the drop off and pick up for the two that were going in. With all the details complete, they got up to leave. Jaye was stopped by Duke and Hawk. She knew it wasn't going to be good and sat back down.

Flint remained sitting and folded his arms over his chest. The four waited until the room was empty before Hawk cleared his throat and spoke.

Her heart began to race. In all her time with GI Joe this had never happened to her. She was cornered and desperately wanted to throw up her defenses, but it would do no good. No one was about to save her.

"Is there something going on that I should know about?" Duke asked.

"I'm not sure what you mean, Sir."

"Come on Lady Jaye everyone saw it," Duke stood over her. "What is going on between you and Trigger?"

"Nothing!"

"You did seem pretty distracted today," Flint added.

"If this is going to be a problem Jaye, we can call Scarlett back from her furlough."

Jaye looked at Hawk and hoped that he wasn't agreeing with what Duke was saying.

"I'm sorry sir, it won't be a problem."

"Lady Jaye, it's really not like you to not be a total participant in a meeting like this. You gave us what you needed to then you just faded out. If there is some sort of problem," Flint reached across the table and placed his hand on her arm, "Let us know."

She did not know what to do. There was no way that she was going to be pulled from this mission. However, it would sound completely immature to let them know that Trigger rubbed her all the wrong ways. "It will be fine."

"Good," Duke said. He nodded to Hawk and walked out of the room.

Hawk followed, but before he reached the door, he addressed Jaye. "I know you won't let me down."

Jaye put her head down on the table and let out a low growl.

"We're not ganging up on you. I hope you know that."

She did not give Flint a response. She just kept her head down.

"You haven't been yourself lately. You've been acting," Flint choose his words carefully, "childish."

"What?" Her head snapped up.

Flint lowered his voice. The door was still open and Jaye was ready for a fight. "You act like a ten-year-old when you get around Trigger. This was probably the worst I've seen it."

"Oh, and you would know what acting like a ten-year-old is like, wouldn't you?"

"See what I mean?"

Jaye got up and slammed the door shut. "I am not acting childish!"

Flint walked over to her. "I don't want to fight. Not now."

"No? Should I brew over this for a little longer?"

"Jaye, this isn't about what I just said. It's about how you are reacting to him. Slamming down your notes, throwing your pen. Should I also mention staring off in space and giving dirty looks? What is going on?"

"He just makes me so mad! He shouldn't be here." She sat back in her chair.

"Why?"

"Didn't you see him? Haven't you heard anything I have been telling you? He's a screw-up. He's going to get someone hurt or worse because he just doesn't care. He always has something more important to do. People like that bother me."

"I have to see it for myself before I can do anything about it."

He knelt down in front of her, as she sat down. "He makes fun of me."

Flint laughed at her. "Is this what this is all about?"

"No, just one of the many things," Jaye sighed.

"Look, you have to work with him and that's that. Maybe once he gets out and does some real work he'll change."

Jaye put her head down. Her voice was almost a whisper. "Hawk is so upset with me."

Flint took her hands in his. "No he's not. Just concerned is all."

"No," She kept her eyes down at the floor. "He's really upset with me I can tell. I don't like that."

"I promise you, he isn't mad. If he was, you would be scrubbing the floor of his office." Flint touched her cheek. "I'm not mad at you either. I'm concerned as well. I just want you to know."

She looked at his face with a sparkle in her green eyes. "I know."

"Now, you better give Trigger a few pointers. It will make your job a little easier."

"That's true. He is a little green, isn't he?"

"Things will get better with him."

Jaye looked at him and sighed. "I doubt it."


	6. Viva Las Vegas

_Disclaimer: Characters in this work (GI Joe/ Cobra) are the property of Marvel Comics, Hasbro  
and Devil's Due Publishing, Inc , and are being used without permission. No profit is gained from the use of these characters._

_Rowan Michaels (a.k.a. Trigger), Mirrored Reflections, and the Diamondback are of my own creation_

_Thanks to: DesertFox for her work, JohnF. , I would not know Rowan, if I did not know you, and to Jai for the push . . . _

**Diamond in the Rough**

By Nickelina

**Viva Las Vegas**

"Just one more minute!" Trigger yelled from the ditch on the side of the road.

Jaye rolled her eyes and tapped her fingers on the steering wheel of the jeep. "What are you doing?" She yelled at him.

"Almost done!" He sing-songed back.

"We don't have time for this." She muttered and got out of the car. Walking to the edge of the road she peered down and saw Trigger relieving himself. "Ohmigod. Trigger! We are not lost in the woods. Couldn't you have held it?"

"No." He turned around and zipped his pants, "When nature calls, I answer."

"You are a pig."

Trigger laughed, "Yeah, you love it." He walked up the ditch and got into the jeep.

The two were driving from the command center in Utah to Las Vegas. The trip so far had been uneventful but the drive was getting long. Jaye took a moment and looked out over the desert to find a moments peace. She was going to need it. She focused on the mountains on the horizon and took a deep breath. Her moment of solitude was disrupted by the blaring of a horn. Her head snapped around and she glared at Trigger who was laughing.

"God, give me strength to keep my temper in check with him, I want none of his blood on my hands today." She ended her prayer and headed back towards the jeep. Once she got in, it started all over again.

"I thought we were in a hurry."

"We are, Trigger." Jaye started the jeep.

"Then let's stop day dreaming, Daisy, and get going," He clapped his hands.

Jaye shut the jeep off. "What did you just call me?"

"Nothing. Daisy. Damn, why are you so jumpy?"

"I'm not jumpy, my name is not Daisy, and we have a job to do, thank you." She started the jeep back up and pulled back on the road. To keep him from talking again, she went over the key points of the day's mission. "Ok, today we are looking for diamonds. You and I are looking to buy some for our store. We are looking to see how big the tie between Mirrored Reflections and Extensive Enterprises is, or if there even is a tie. It seems as if whenever Extensive Enterprises is around, so is COBRA. So, we have a talk with who is in charge and see what we can find out."

"Are we actually going to be buying diamonds? Because I got this ring.. "

"No," She interrupted him. "We are just looking to see if Mirrored Reflections can supply our store. If you read the brief before we left base you would know that there will be no shopping on this mission."

"Yeah, I read it, every page." Trigger feigned a yawn.

"Good. You can never be too prepared. We need to keep our eyes peeled for any funny stuff."

"Well, it sounds easy enough." Trigger spit his gum out of the window.

"It is. We rendezvous with the rest of the team at 1600, at the undisclosed location. We will be picked up by taxi. That way, we can mingle in with the tourists and not be followed."

"Why undisclosed? Why can't it be like on the corner of fifth and Main?

"Because, it's supposed to be secret. Besides, if you read your brief, you know where it is."

"I know where it is, Lady Jaye. What if we get separated?

"We're not going to, stop fussing and fretting. This is a cake walk."

Two hours later they arrived at their location. They stopped at a motel quite a ways off of The Strip. Jaye pulled into the parking lot and stopped the car. She got out and grabbed her bag out of the back and walked to the office. Trigger sat in the jeep and waited for her to get a room. After a few minutes, she came back to the jeep.

"This is where we are staying?" Trigger asked disgustedly.

"Yeah, did you think the government was going to put us up at Caesar's Palace?" She laughed, "This is just for us to get ready. Get your bag, this jeep won't be here for long."

Trigger sat on the bed attempting to tie his striped tie that didn't quite go with his pale yellow shirt and dark dress slacks.

Jaye walked out of the bathroom wearing a blue power suit. A long and curly blond wig was on head. "We have twenty minutes to finish getting ready and meet the gentlemen from Mirrored Reflections at the Bellagio. How close are you to being ready?"

"T minus 4 minutes, mission control." He flashed a smile at her. "So we can't stop at the slots?"

"Nope, Mr. Astronaut, Sir," She smiled back at him. "I thought you would be a blackjack player."

"Oh no! Slots all the way, baby! Maybe a little roulette, maybe."

Jaye grabbed a box of contact lenses out of her bag and headed back towards the bathroom. "You really want to have fun gambling? Go to Monte Carlo."

"Monaco? Damn, you get around on military wages."

"Family trip before the military."

"My family didn't go on trips." _My family never went anywhere._ _I never had a family._

"That's too bad. You should go on your own. Now hurry up, we have to go."

At the Bellagio, in a conference room on the third floor, Extensive Enterprises had set up its diamond store for its exclusive buyers. Tomax and Xamot sat at a long table, dressed impeccably as always, every seam pressed on their black suits and every hair in place. Before them sat a metal briefcase. Crimson Guards in plain clothes stood at either side of the room, as the next set of buyers walked through the door.

"Ahh.." They both stood up. "Mr. and Mrs. Miller, how are you today?" The twins said in unison.

"Fine, fine and how are you?" Lady Jaye extended her hand. She had to hide the surprise she was sure was on her face. It was obvious that Mirrored Reflections was not a separate company from Extensive Enterprises, but Extensive Enterprises itself. With her long blond wig and blue contacts she felt confident speaking with a thick mid-western accent and not having the twins notice her. She had come for a link to COBRA, it wouldn't take long now.

"We understand that you are interested in buying diamonds." Tomax gestured them to sit.

Trigger held Jaye's chair for her as she sat. She straightened her dark blue skirt as she shifted her leg into a more comfortable position. Trigger sat next to her, looking like a fish out of water.

"I'm sorry," Trigger extended his hand. "I did not properly introduce us, I'm Bruce and this is my wife Daisy."

Jaye turned her face to him and slightly gave him the evil eye. He was going to pay for that one.

"Nice to meet you." Xamot responded, unimpressed. "And how many diamonds are you interested in buying?"

Jaye took over from here. She was not about to let Trigger do anymore of the talking, this was her mission. "We are looking for a small amount to start. Our shop is just opening."

"A new store?" The twins asked.

"Yes, new. There is nothing like a small family run business. We specialize in custom made jewelry." She smiled politely.

"And as for funding? What kind of collateral do you have to open your new business? As Mirrored Reflection's owners, we would hate for you to make such a purchase, and then have your business fail."

Thankful that she had pulled all her most precious jewelry from the vault at the command center, she pushed a small file across the table with a diamond laden finger. At least they would think they were rich. Tomax straightened up and took notice of the three carat diamond as he took the file from her. Both twins looked at the file then looked at each other and smiled. Clearing their throats, Tomax started.

"Mr. Miller, where is your store located?" Xamot finished.

Trigger shifted nervously in his seat and looked at Jaye. "Uhh... in my wife's home town."

Jaye looked over at him it hit her like a ton of bricks. Trigger must have just skimmed through the brief if he read it at all. She knew this was going to happen. She was totally on her own, with a screwball for backup. She was used to working on her own, but this time he could really blow their cover. And she was sure there were ample crimson guards wandering just outside this room. She switched into what she called 'automatic mode' and tried to get through the rest of the meeting with no further problems.

"Which is?" The twins leaned forward, skeptical.

"Minneapolis, of course! I thought you would recognize the accent." She shrugged.

She had to use what information they had with a smattering of improvisation, to dig them out of the hole that Trigger was digging for them. "Actually, the store will be in a neighborhood known as 50th and France. It's Minneapolis' answer to Rodeo Drive."

"Rodeo Drive in Minneapolis? We highly doubt that!" The twins laughed.

"Well, it's just southwest of the downtown area. A very well- to- do community just far enough away to not be bothered, but close enough to still be in the city," She smiled again, thankful for the trip she had just taken there with Cover Girl.

"Very well then. Would you like to see to see someofthe product? Xamot asked, popping the latches of the case.

"Yes, thank you," Trigger was composed until he saw the contents of the case. "Holy shit!" He said just loud enough for Lady Jaye to kick him.

"Pardon?" Tomax eyed him.

"Oh excuse me, sorry."

Lady Jaye picked up a loupe and began to inspect the diamonds. Trigger followed her lead. "These are impressive," she placed the diamond back in the case. "Mirrored Reflections is their own supplier?"

"Correct. Mirrored Reflections supplies their own."

"I see," She pulled a blond lock behind her ear. "Where do you get them from? They are cut in Amsterdam obviously. I was hoping Ivory Coast for the raw stones."

Tomax stood up behind the table. "You know your diamonds. I'm impressed."

"I like to know where my product comes from."

"South America." Xamot answered her.

"That isn't where the good ones come from, is it?" Trigger asked.

The twins looked at him dumbfounded. Jaye had to stop herself from slapping Trigger across the face.

"You'll have to excuse my husband." Jaye got up and walked over to Tomax. "It's definitely beauty running the show here." She sat on the edge of the table.

"We see," He replied.

Jaye looked him in the eyes. "Where in South America is the mine?" _Just give me the location, _she screamed in her head

"Like I said, dear," Tomax leaned closer, "They are not our mines."

"Oh, because," She leaned in even closer, so Tomax had a full view of cleavage, "Depending on how many I want to buy, I would like to see the mine. Customers would love to hear stories about the stone they are buying."

He took he eyes off her cleavage, "Perhaps, one day."

"Perhaps." Just as she thought the twins were perverts. She was willing to show a little skin to get what she needed from them. "Maybe you could tell me, over dinner?" She winked at him and moved her arm, her shirt falling open a little moreas she did. Xamot let his stare linger before looking at his brother. Both brothers had the same smirk, the same gleam in their eyes.

"That could be arranged." Tomax came to join the conversation from across the room.

"Will it be one?" Xamot looked directly at her face. "Or two?" He nodded towards Trigger.

Jaye motioned both twins closer and she began to whisper. "Gentleman, I said I was the beauty of the operation. A table for three will be just fine." All three looked at Trigger who was engrossed in the tray of diamonds in front of him.

"Very well then." The twins straighten up and walk back to their chairs. "We will continue the deal tonight over dinner. Our driver will pick you up at say, seven."

Jaye smileed at them. "Do you know where to find me?"

"We'll find you. We have connections." They said in unison.

Trigger finally snapped to attention. "Are we done?"

"Yes, we are." Jaye said curtly. She motioned Trigger to the door. "Tonight gentlemen."

"Tonight," the twins said as the door closed.

Without saying a word, Trigger followed Jaye into the elevator. He remained upbeat, unaware of the wrath that was about to come. He pushed the lobby button and put his hands in his pockets. He began to whistle a country tune, and then stopped to ask Lady Jaye a question.

"Aren't you gonna call Hawk?"

"Shut up." She whispered through gritted teeth.

"Well, are you?"

"Shut up."

"Oh, I get it! You do things on your own. You renegade!" He turned around and swung to punch her in the arm.

She caught his fist and squeezed it hard. "I said, _shut up_."

"You don't have to be so rough." Just then, the door opened.

"Get outside and wait for the pick up."

"Where are you going?"

"Never mind." She snapped.

"We are supposed to be partners here Lady Jaye. You have to tell me."

"Oh, I'll tell you something. First of all, you need to learn to read the briefs, and read them thoroughly. Second, if you don't know what is going on do not, and I repeat, do not open your mouth." By this time, one hand was on her hip, the other was in his face. "Third, you never, ever mention anything about the Joe team to anyone at anytime." By the time she was done they were through the casino and at the taxi stand.

"We were in an elevator!" Trigger tried to justify himself.

She pulled him closer to the edge of the curb. "That elevator could have been bugged by COBRA. I wouldn't put it past them."

"We got what we came for, they have the diamonds. Did you see the inside of the case?"

"We didn't get shit." She said, her voice was filled with anger. An undistinguished taxi pulled up and Jaye opened the door. As Trigger got in the female driver turned around and smiled.

"Where to, hot stuff."

"Cover Girl, take Trigger to the rendezvous point. Have Duke call me on the secure line ASAP," She slammed the door shut before Trigger could put a word in. She walked to the front door of the taxi, leaned in the open window and sighed.

"Are you ok? What went down?" Cover Girl asked, concerned.

"I'm fine. I just have to do some damage control. Now go, I don't have a lot of time."

The taxi pulled away and Jaye took out her cell phone. Punching in an unrecognizable series of numbers, her call was connected.

"Calling for an escort?" The voice on the other line laughed.

"Hey Mainframe, its Lady Jaye. I need you to set me up a reservation here under Daisy Miller, use a Minneapolis address and credit card. Pick the hotel and get back to me right away."

"Will this be a single or double room, or can I interest you in a suite?"

"Cut the shit Mainframe, I'm in a jam."

"Sorry, Lady Jaye. I'm on it. Can you stay on the line?"

"For a second."

"Ok, I got you set up at the Sahara. Is that ok?"

"It's fine. Thanks hon."

"Never a problem, anything else, let me know."

"Will do, Jaye out."

Upstairs, Tomax and Xamot watched the altercation between Mr. and Mrs. Miller outside the hotel via closed circuit monitoring. Although there was no audio, they could tell there was quite an argument going on. They both watched in amusement as Daisy slammed the taxi door on her husband. They turned their attention away from the screen and to one of the Siegies.

"Did anything happen in the elevator?" Tomax asked.

"Not that we were able to tell, sir, the audio seems to have cut out. We did catch him telling her to call someone."

"The audio cut out?" Xamot stood up.

"Yes, sir," The Siegies replied.

"Then fix it. I want to know everything that was said. Something about them isn't adding up."

"Yes sir."

They turned their attention back to the surveillance video. They saw Daisy Miller place a call on her cell phone then re-enter the hotel. She disappeared into the casino.

"What's going on and where the hell are you?" Flint snapped into the phone.

"I'm at Sahara. And I have dinner with the Crimson Twins at seven. Why?" Lady Jaye told him.

"You're not going by yourself."

"Yes, I am." She switched the phone to her other ear to put her earrings in and re-adjust her wig.

"You're having cover."

"It's a simple Intel mission. I can do this. It's nothing."

"I'm sending Trig..."

"Not Trigger!"

"Yes, Trigger."

"Better yet, why don't you send in a clown with big shoes and a bright red nose! That won't blow my cover at all."

"He started this mission too."

"And he fucked it up. That's the reason I need to do this now."

Flint didn't hesitate to counter her attitude with his own. "What tone are you using with me?"

"Oh don't do this! I'm trying to tell you what went down today and you're talking about what tone of voice I'm using with you?"

"I call the shots around here, Lady Jaye. Remember that. Anything you think you need to do goes past me first."

"Oh god, you're joking right?" Jaye laughedsarcastically. "Do you want to finish this job?"

"Do you want a reprimand?"

Lady Jaye refused to answer Flint's question.

Flint paused; he knew she was close to the edge. He took a deep breath he continues. "Tell me what happened."

Jaye told him the details of the meeting with the twins; of how Trigger was inattentive, how he didn't read the briefs, and how he had possibly blown their cover in the elevator. She told Flint about her plans to dine with the Twins in order to get the whereabouts of the diamond shipments.

"It's interesting, Jaye," Flint started. "I talked to Trigger when he got here and I was told a somewhat different story."

"I'm not surprised."

"Let me talk with Duke and see our next plan of action. I'll get back to you in ten."

"Ok." She sighed and calmed down.

"And Allie," his voice filled with concern. "Be careful, those guys are creeps."

"I will." She smiled and hung up.

Lady Jaye threw the phone on the bed and walked into the bathroom. Staring in the mirror, she sighed. She could not believe how Trigger was acting. Changing the story of what happened to save his own hide. Not that she should worry, the rest of the team, especially Duke and Flint had worked with her long enough to know that she would never jeopardize a mission. She didn't know what Trigger said, nor did she want to. It just wasn't the Joe way. "This is a team," she said aloud. "Not each man for himself." The phone broke her concentration. From the ring she knew it was Duke.

"Yes?"

"Lady Jaye, this is Duke. This is tonight's plan. Go to dinner with he twins. I'm sending two agents with you."

"But..."

"But nothing. Two agents will be there only if you run into trouble. Do you know where you are going?"

"My message is to meet them in Villa One at the Bellagio."

"Villa One is private. Change it, go public."

"Will do," Jaye took note.

"The agents will be waiting in the lobby. Keep your tracking jewelry on. You know how to play this game, play to win."

"I always do, Duke. You will know where the diamonds are by the end of the night."

"I was hoping by ten, when you check in."

"Ten?" She laughed. "My curfew is that early?"

"Ten, Duke out."

Jaye double checked her appearance in the mirror, pressed the button on her locator necklace pendant, and left her room.

It took a bit of convincing to get the twins to dine at Picasso instead of the private villa. Unfortunately not much business was talked about; the only solid evidence was that a large shipment was arriving from South America. Now she had to press them for where and when. She had suggested that the three take a stroll through the fine art gallery, claiming that it was something she had planned to visit on her trip here. Although it was close to closing time and not very crowded, none of them noticed that Flint and Cover Girl were also there as Lady Jaye's cover. Jaye stopped in front of an impressionist painting and Xamot stepped close to her.

"Have you ever been to Mexico?" He asked.

"Once, I was in college, spring break. You know how that goes." Jaye never took her eyes off the painting.

"Would you like to go again?"

She laughed, "Is this a date?"

"Oh no. I realize you are a married woman. Would you like to travel with us to over see the shipment's arrival?"

"I would love to," She turned to him. "If it's not too much trouble."

"No trouble at all," Tomax said as he took her hand and guided her into the next room. "If you are not busy the day after tomorrow, we could fly down in our private plane."

"That sounds fine." She could hardly keep from smiling. Then she realized the time. She excused herself, telling them she had to call her husband. She never completely walked out of the ear shot of the twins.

"Hi honey, where are you?"

"It's about time you checked in," Duke said. "Where the hell have you been?"

"Are you in a crowded place? You're yelling in the phone."

"What?" Duke was confused.

"You were playing blackjack? How much did you lose?" She teased.

"Did you get any information?"

"Yes, hon. You can take just a bit out of our business account, but be sure that you transfer it back from our personal account tomorrow, no questions."

"Jaye, stop acting for a minute." It took Duke a second to realize what she was trying to tell him.

"Oh, I'm not mad sweetie, just play to win this time. I'll talk to you when I get back to the hotel."

"Gotcha Lady Jaye. I'll expect a full report as soon as you get back to your room."

"Ok Honey, have fun, I'll see you soon. Bye." Noticing the twins looking at her, she dropped her phone in her purse, and smiled. "He can be quite the gambler. Now let's get back to business shall we?"

"We shall," Xamot told her.

As the three continued through the gallery, Lady Jaye noticed Flint and Cover Girl posing as a couple, walking hand in hand, following them into every room. She briefly made eye contact with them and they went their separate ways.

By the time they had finished walking through the gallery; Jaye had all the information she needed. The twins offered to pick her up to travel with them to Mexico. They had also offered her a nightcap in their villa, which she turned down quickly but politely. Now she was off to a debriefing with Duke and Flint in her hotel room.


	7. South of the Border

_Disclaimer: Characters in this work (GI Joe/ Cobra) are the property of Marvel Comics, Hasbro  
and Devil's Due Publishing, Inc , and are being used without permission. No profit is gained from the use of these characters._

_Rowan Michaels (a.k.a. Trigger), Mirrored Reflections, and the Diamondback are of my own creation_

_Thanks to: DesertFox for her work, JohnF. , I would not know Rowan, if I did not know you, and to Jai for the push . . . _

**Diamond in the Rough**

By Nickelina

**South of the Border**

The intercept team sat in their vehicles at the temporary base camp in New Mexico. Mainframe sat in front of a small computer terminal in the back of the mobile communications unit, waiting for Lady Jaye's G.P.S. signal. GI Joe had already located the COBRA stronghold, and they were keeping an eye on air traffic traveling to and from it. Flint paced back and forth nearby. He went over every detail in his mind. Every rendezvous point, seizing the shipment, and getting Jaye out if she were to run into trouble. It was the last point that he dwelled on. He felt horrible about the previous night. There was no reason to confront her the way he did. Flint knew thatLady Jayeknew what she was doing. He knew that she could hold her own and why she took the mission a step further. After he had worked with Trigger all day, he felt her frustration. As he thought about Trigger, he looked over and saw him drawing pictures in the sand. Sighing, Flint walked over to put him in line for the second time today.

"Trigger!"

Trigger jumped up. "Yes, Sir?"

"Are you ready for intercept?"

"Yes I am, Sir."

"Are you sure about that?"

"Yes, sir, I was just drawing picture of the mountains in the sand." He was unaware of how close Flint was to him, and that Flint had noticed that the picture was of a crudely drawn nude body.

"Nice picture. I didn't realize that mountains had legs." Flint was unimpressed. "Wipe it out. We don't need anything like that to show we were here. You should know that."

"Got it, Sir." Trigger slowly started to wipe out his drawing as Flint walked away. He looked up at Dusty who had come over to check on him, and started to laugh. "Too bad I wasn't good at portraits. I could add the face of Lady Jaye to this and whoo hoo!

Dusty's eyes grew wide. He had seen Flint turn around and start walking back in their direction. He was closing in fast.

Trigger continued, he was unaware of what was happening. "It would be like the desert version of Playboy! But without the articles, because lets face it, who reads the art..."

"What did you just say?" Flint stood so close to Trigger they were nose to nose. Before he could answer Flint asked him again. "I asked you a question!"

"I just said that I could draw..."

"Who!" Flint was irate.

"Lady Jaye! Dude, what's your problem?"

Flint pushed Trigger back away from him. Trigger lost his balance and fell backwards. He thought Flint had pushed him down intentionally and he went on the defensive. He kicked Flint's legs out from under him sending him falling on his back. Now both men were on the ground, they lunged at each other, punching and rolling in the sand. It was a few minutes before most of the other Joes knew what was going on, and a few more before Roadblock showed up to pull Flint off Trigger.

"Man! Get yourself together!" Roadblock said as he grabbed Flint up off the ground and swung him around to face him. "We have no time for this."

"You're insane!" Trigger yelled at Flint, as he was being held back by Dusty. "You can't push me to the ground! You're probably just pissed 'cause I have a better chance of tappin' that ass than you!"

Not even Roadblock's massive frame could hold Flint back . He broke free and ran full speed at Trigger, and grabbed his arm. "Keep it up and I'll pound you right into the sand so fast, your head will spin!" Flint yelled at him.

"You'll pound me? Step up!" Trigger yelled and put up his fists.

"Flint!" Mainframe broke through the crowd of men. "I picked up Lady Jaye's signal, ETA to COBRA, less than an hour."

Flint put his arms back at his sides and took a deep breath. "Men, get ready." He started to walk towards the truck with out looking back and with Cover Girl in tow.

"What the hell was that? Are you out of your mind?" She brushed sand from the back of his shirt.

"Did you hear what he said?"

"I heard him, Flint. Trigger has a big mouth. He thinks Lady Jaye is attractive. A lot of guys do. Granted, the whole tapping of the ass comment was out of line."

He slowed to meet her gait. "I'm looking out for her, just like I do you."

Cover Girl laughed. "That's a bunch of bullshit. And you know it."

"What is?"

"I look out for you too," She mimicked his voice. "And you know if Lady Jaye heard you say that you were looking out for her, she would knock you on your ass, again. She doesn't need looking after."

"Okay, let me ask you this." He stopped and looked right at her. "What if that was you? What if he was talking like that about you?"

"Flint, they all do. I work in the motor pool, remember?" She smiled at him, winked and walked back toward her jeep.

"That man is a nutcase!" Trigger said, re-packing his gear. "Good teammate, makes me really wanna work for him. I'm talking to Hawk as soon as we get back. Putting his hands on me, I'll be damned."

"Just calm down." Roadblock reassured him, "Flint needs to make sure that each person on this team is treated with respect. He keeps his eye out for all of us. He has to. And not just when we're in the field."

"Well he can keep his eye _off_ me. I don't know how many times I have to tell people." Trigger brushed the sand off his legs and started to walk away.

"We all need looking out for, and we look out for each other." Dusty put a protective arm around Trigger. "Just let it roll. When we get back to base, just apologize to Flint, I'm sure he'll do the same."

Trigger shook Dusty's arm off. "Like hell I will. And like I said, I look out for no one but myself." He broke through the crowd of Joes still watching. Roadblock stepped in front of him to block his way.

"No. That is how people get hurt. In combat we work as a team, we are one. When were not in combat we work as a team, we are one. One of our own is on the other side. One wrong move and she's gone. Anything happens to her, it won't be just be Flint you'll need to worry about. Get it, my man?" Trigger tried to side step Roadblock, but he was stopped by a giant hand on his chest. "I said, you get it, my man?"

"Yeah, I get it." Trigger was slightly humbled by his encounter with Roadblock.

"Now Boys!" Roadblock's voice boomed with pride, "Lets re-group and get those snakes!"

As the men were returning to their vehicles, Flint walked by for one fast, final check and to make a small change in the line up. He knew he had done what he always promised himself he would never do, lose his temper with his men. Especially over Lady Jaye. There were a few who knew about their relationship, he still needed to have that distance with her in front of the rest of the team. Personal versus professional, and professional always won.

He sighed and kicked a clump of sand. He knew he was going to have to apologize, or have Hawk on his ass. And it would do no good to have tension between the men before a confrontation with COBRA. Once he got to the Awe Strikers he told them the new set up.

"Wild Bill, get you and your men in the air and get us some cover, stay out of radar range. Dusty, Footloose, Cover Girl, and Mainframe get those vehicles moving. Mainframe, make sure you don't lose Lady Jaye's signal. I want that town pinpointed exactly. Roadblock, you are responsible for getting Lady Jaye out if things get hairy, don't blow her cover before then. Trigger, you're with me."

"Are you sure?" Roadblock raised his eyebrow.

"Positive. Come on, let's go. Yo Joe!" Flint patted Trigger on the back as they walk to the Dragonfly. Before they got in Flint stopped and extended his hand to Trigger. "No hard feelings?"

Trigger reluctantly extended his. "Yeah, no hard feelings."

"Good, I'll explain once we're in the air."

"Okey dokey."

"Okey dokey?" Flint mouthed. "Get in." He started up the Dragonfly and began his take off procedures.

Trigger strapped on his belt and began to pretend to touch all the various buttons on the back of the seat, and ceiling. "Beep beep, boop. Beep beep. Bridge to Captain Kirk. Laying in course change six mark one."

"Trigger! Will you shut up?"

"Aw come on Flint, a little humor never hurt."

"This is not a space ship, and we have business to attend to."

"That would be a Starship. Our little lady would know that. She's a Trekkie. She just doesn't know it yet."

"We are not going to the stars. What is our objective today? Or are you in space land?"

"Our objective is to get those rocks and get that little lady out."

Flint's was starting to get angry again. "That little lady has a name."

"Yeah I know, Lady Jaye. Closet Trekkie."

"She's not into Star Trek, Trigger, I'm telling you."

"Yes she is, we talked about it in Operations, she knows the nitty gritty."

"She talks about Star Trek?" Flint was totally surprised. He didn't even know she watched it, then again, she could have just been bullshitting her way through a conversation, and he wouldn't put it past her.

"Oh yeah, we all do. She's great to talk to when she's not yelling or bitching at me or ignoring me, which is whenever we are within five feet of each other. So, the two- ten minute conversations we've had have been fun."

Trigger's last comment humored Flint. He knew exactly how Lady Jaye was with Trigger. He had been there himself at one time. "You have to understand how Lady Jaye works. She's professional, always. She's the best at what she does, and gets extremely annoyed when you don't give as much as she thinks you should. That's why I enjoy pairing up with her in the field. We push each other's limits and get a lot accomplished."

"So that's why you knocked me to the ground?"

"I didn't knock you to the ground, first of all. Trigger, you have to have respect for everyone on this team. I just will not allow talk like that. You are working closely with Lady Jaye and she deserves more than that."

"We'll if it makes you feel better I wouldn't mind seeing Cover Girl in that sand either. God, what a body, what a face!" Trigger laughed.

"If she heard you say that she would probably knock you out. Now shut up."

"What, you think the girls could kick my ass? I doubt it. Girls, ha!"

"Don't say that. I've seen Scarlett do some serious damage with their bare hands." Flint said.

"Really?" Trigger grew quiet. Women who could hold their own, this he would have to see.

"So you have a thing going on with her?"

"A thing going on with whom?" Flint asked.

"Lady Jaye."

Flint hesitated before answering. "What kind of question is that?"

"Come on, Flint, you can tell me. It's just you and me in here."

"That is none of your business, Trigger."

"Ahh, did I hit a sore spot?"

Flint refused to answer any more of Trigger's questions.

Running out of friendly conversation with Flint, Trigger chose to remain quiet the rest of the way, until he spied a few buildings on the horizon. "You see that? That must be our place!"

"Good eye, Trigger!" Flint radioed the test of the team and told them to regroup and stay low. Once everyone, but the sky force was assembled, they sat and waited for Lady Jaye to check in with the details of the COBRA camp.

The Extensive Enterprises Jet landed on the runway and taxied to the end, stopping before one of the large, shoddily built buildings. Two Crimson Guards exited before Tomax and Xamot, dressed in their casual suits came down the steps. They were followed by Lady Jaye, once again disguised as Daisy Miller, in a green pants suit. The broach on the jacket served as a two-way communicator. The suit was better for running in, she had thought that morning. She carried only a small purse with a tracking device and switch blade inside. Not her weapon of choice, but it was a lot more inconspicuous than a pack of javelins or an M-16. If worse came to worse, she could slit the throat of the enemy and take his weapon. But only if her life was in extreme danger.

The heat was oppressive and she was glad that the building they entered was air-conditioned. When her eyes adjusted to the light, it didn't take long for her to notice the blue flag hanging on the wall. On it was a large red COBRA symbol.

"Well, I'll be damned. I wonder how much the cooling bill is here." She commented under her breath. She turned around she found Tomax and Xamot conversing with a few of the Crimson Guardsmen. Lady Jaye politely introduced herself. As she made pleasantries with them, she had the feeling that someone, out of sight, was staring at her. She had to get out of the building. She asked Xamot if she could get a tour of sorts around the village. He put her in the care of one of the Crimson Guardsmen to walk her around, and warned them to stay close and not to be too nosy. He explained that this was not the place for a beautiful lady, and he would be mortified if she would be injured. She smiled and thanked him. As they left the building she heard a voice that she never expected to be there.

"You fools! Bringing a civilian along! Have you lost your collective minds?" Cobra Commander said loud enough for her to hear.

"A small time jeweler from Minnesota is not a threat to COBRA, "Tomax started.

"We've checked her out, she's clean." Xamot finished.

"Everyone is a threat to COBRA! You are no better that Zartan! Thinking with..."

"Our heads?" The twins said.

"Cobra Commander, what better way to squelch suspicion of COBRA activities then to involve civilians? Remember who put up the money for your little diamond expedition."

"Besides," Tomax interrupted. "This is probably the most excitement the poor farm girl has seen. And if she causes trouble, we can, dispose of her."

"Yes," Cobra Commander said as he smirked. "One can always have an accident in the desert."

_Pre-requisite number one for being COBRA, be stupid. Number two, be gullible_. Jaye couldn't help but giggle aloud at the thought. Now not only was she away from the prying eye of Cobra Commander, but she had access to everything in the village, and her boys were just a comm link away.

She did a great job of playing the part of a woman who had never seen a setup such as this. She got not only a walk around the village, but they let her in each and every one of the small buildings and tents. One of the first was a small dining hall. _Go figure, they have to have a place to slack off._ A bit further down was a tent with various boxes, and crates that she couldn't make out. Across the way there was an armory. Taking a mental note of its location, she also checked what kinds of weapons they had with them. She made note of each HISS tank, every Trouble Bubble, every guard. As they got closer, back to the main building, she knew she had to make a move fast.

"I'm sorry to trouble you, but do you have a necessary room?"

The guards just looked at each other.

"A rest room? I just need to freshen up a bit. Between the flight and this heat, I'm positive I look a mess."

"Well, uhh," The guard scratched his head, "There are facilities over there." He pointed to a small home behind the dining hall.

"Thank you." Jaye walked away smirking. She knew that the guard wouldn't walk in with her. Once inside, she pulled her tracking device and made sure it was still working. She wanted to switch the channel so the signal would be stronger. Before she could there was a knock on the door. She quickly put the tracking device away. She opened the door and stepped down, only to run into Xamot.

"Oh, I'm sorry."

"Where were you?" His tone was harsh.

"I wanted to freshen up a bit."

He grabbed her by the elbow and led her back to the main building. "Not snooping too much, I hope."

"Not at all." She squirmed to get out of his grasp. "Is there some sort of problem?"

"Oh, no my dear, there is just too much for your eyes to see here. Shall we get out of this heat?"

"Yes." Jaye breathed a sigh of relief. She thought that she had been discovered. She walked with Xamot back to the building that they had arrived in and he motioned for her to take a seat.

Tomax walked through an inner doorway and stood next to her. "I'm sorry for the delay my dear, we have just one business deal to attend to before we show you the shipment. Is that ok?"

Jaye batted her eyes at him. "That will be just fine. I'll wait right here."

The twins walked around the corner. Jaye looked around and noticed that there was only one Siegie to guard the entrance to the door on the inside. She had make sure that her tracking device was working or call her boys, and it had to be now. She walked out of the building and back towards the dining hall. She risked everything by talking on her communicator.

"Go." Mainframe's voice sounded over the speaker.

"The Commander is here."

"What?" Flint's voice was heard in the background.

"In the large building at the end of the run way. That's not all. The place is crawling with troops. There has to be more vehicles somewhere."

"What else, Jaye?" Flint took his turn.

"I don't have time."

"Were you able to get anything from Cobra Commander?"

"No. But from the looks of this place, I don't think its just a drop. This has to be a stronghold. I think we are outnumbered."

"Lady Jaye?" Mainframe was now back on, "Do not lose your personal tracking device. That way we can keep an eye on your exact location, you know, be the needle in the haystack."

"I have to go."

"Jaye, we need more information." Flint was getting impatient.

"Jaye out."

"May I ask who you were talking to?" Tomax asked her while she was walking back to the building.

"No one, I was just making comments to myself." Jaye was praying that he had not heard any of her conversation.

"That is not very funny. Are you trying to play games with us?"

"What are you talking about? I'm sorry if I did something to upset you."

"We need you now. There is a shipment ready for your viewing, and there is someone we would like you to meet."

Jaye walked with Tomax into the building and into the back room where she had seen him go earlier. She followed him into the back room where she saw three small briefcases sitting on a table in front of Cobra Commander.

"Did you see the diamond?" Duke asked. Everyone was back in Las Vegas, as the day turned out to be more of a look-see than a recovery. The Joes were just too outnumbered.

"No, well, not _the _diamond." Replied Jaye, who was digging through her bag to find her contact case.

Duke was visiting Jaye in her room after the team had done a debriefing. He was hoping that maybe he could get a little more information about the COBRA camp from her, and possibly they could devise a plan to get a hold of the diamond that they needed. The rest of the team would be there in a few minutes.

"Then did you see any diamonds?"

"Well there were three cases. Two were filled with smaller stones, and the other the Commander had in front of him. He was being really greedy about it. He kept touching it and tapping the cover."

Duke laughed. "Well what did you expect? Was he drooling over it too?"

"No," Jaye couldn't help but start to laugh with Duke. "He never opened it though. I thought he would to make sure it was still there."

"Well, do you think it was in there?"

"Oh yeah. Definitely."

Just as Jaye was going to take out her contacts there was a knock at the door. Duke put himself in the bathroom and partially closed the door. She looked through the peep hole and saw Flint impatiently waiting to get in.

"Ahh, men in uniform, just what I want to see!" She said as she opened the door for him.

"At least it's the right uniform. It could be worse." Flint said as he walked through the door.

Ripcord and Trigger followed him in, both in animated conversation.

"Flint, you spoke too soon." Jaye said as Trigger stopped in front of her.

"Hi sweetie, I'm home!" Trigger said as he planted an exaggerated kiss on her cheek. "How was your day? Did you have a good time with your new boyfriends?"

"Shut up, Trigger." Lady Jaye shut the door and walked back to where Duke was.

"Any new developments?" Flint asked.

"No. I was telling Duke about how Cobra Commander went on and on about the COBRA organization. How great it was, and all the good things they do."

"Thinking of joining?" Duke joked with her.

"They do have some great benefits!" She joked back.

Flint peeked out through the blinds, annoyed with the fact that Duke had been up here all this time with Jaye. He wasn't about to sit and listen to their jokes. "So what is our next plan of action?"

"We some how have got to get those diamonds. The twins have them. We need to get them."

"Before they leave Las Vegas?" Flint was surprised.

"Why not? It beats having to go to Extensive Enterprises in New York." Jaye looked at Flint and knew what he was thinking. She walked over to him and put her hand on his shoulder, diffusing the jealousy she knew was building.

"Why don't you just go and get them?" Ripcord asked. "You know where the room is."

"It can't be that simple." Duke added.

"It's not," Jaye's tone of voice commanded everyone attention. "We are in lot deeper than we thought coming down here. We play it carefully, or we'll be in deep shit."

"Well, maybe if you weren't such a bandit, have to do everything your self, my way or the highway..." Trigger said.

"Stop right there, Trigger." She walked closer to him. "If you wouldn't have started off with giving wrong names at the first meeting, among other things…"

"Oh, come on, 'I'm married but going off with rich business men', yeah that's believable. Let me open my shirt and give those freaky twins a little peek."

Jaye was losing her temper fast. "Trigger, if you don't stop right now..."

Flint stepped between them to stop the fight. "Both of you! Be quiet!"

"If I could just slap him and get away with it I would," Jaye whispered to Ripcord. She knew she couldn't control her anger, so she walked into the bathroom and slammed the door.

Ripcord started to follow her, and Duke shook his head no.

"Can't you two at least pretend to get along?" Ripcord asked Trigger.

"I try, she won't help." He shrugged.

"What did I tell you?" Flint got right in Trigger's face. "When are you going to learn? You have to respect your partner, and learn to work together."

"I respect _you _Sir, but she is making it very hard to respect _her_."

"Well, the two of you need to fix whatever is broken between you and do it fast."

Ripcord walked to the bathroom door and knocked softly. Jaye turned to handle just enough to pop the door open. She was sitting on the edge of the bathtub staring at the wall. Ripcord stepped in and closed the door. Without saying a word, he sat next to her, giving her silent comfort. She cracked her knuckles and sighed. After another minute she got up, and smoothed down the blond wig she still had on her head. She opened the door and walked out. Ripcord followed her.

"Sorry folks. Now, where were we?" Jaye walked past Trigger and sat on the bed.

"We were thinking about a way to get the diamond then someone started to throw a temper..." Trigger caught himself before going any further.

"I got it!" Ripcord said.

"What?" The four of them asked at the same time.

"Since Lady Jaye is being the cheating wife already, sorry Jaye, I couldn't resist," Ripcord said as he smiled at her. "Why doesn't she go to their room, give them a little too much to drink and maybe they will just hand it over."

"What?" Duke was confused at first, then started to smile. "Is she supposed to put the diamonds in her purse and walk out?"

"It wouldn't be the first time." Ripcord winked at Jaye.

"Ripcord! Be quiet! No one was supposed to know about that." She winked back at him.

Duke paced the room. He looked over at Flint and they looked at each other with a knowing look. A plan was brewing between the two of them.

Flint took out his cell phone. "Mainframe, get to Lady Jaye's room and bring a floor plan of Bellagio's Villa One.

The group sat huddled on the floor, going over the plans for Villa One. Flint mapped out exactly where each person was going to be, and how the take was going to go down. If it went as planned, Jaye would go in, meet with the twins, and while she had them distracted, a two man team would sneak in and get the diamond. Before the twins would know what had happened, Jaye would walk out. It was as simple of a plan as they could think of.

Jaye made the phone call, and the twins were expecting her. It took less than a half hour to get everyone in place. Flint and Jaye were the last to leave her room. Before she walked out he grabbed her arm. "The more I think about this, the more I don't like it."

They both new this could be one of the most dangerous things they had ever done to get information. She was going in unarmed, save for the small heart-shaped pendant that was wired as a transmitter. The signal it sent out would let the others know when she found the diamond, and where her location was when she found it. Its only other function would be to let the others know she was in danger. It was the safest way, in case she was searched. It was against Flint's advisement, but it was how it had to be.

"Take this with you. It will make me feel better." He pulled his Swiss Army knife from his shirt pocket.

Jaye laughed as she took it. "Thanks. I can whittle my way out of danger. You're so thoughtful!"

He pulled her into his arms and held her. For a moment, he was lost. He wished that he could keep his arms around her for protection but it could not be. He knew that the Crimson Guard Commanders were more dangerous than they let on. Flint took a deep breath, and said the words he always said to her when they parted ways before danger. "Please be careful."

"I will."

"If anything happens, wait here for me." He put two fingers over his heart.

Even through her contacts her eyes sparkled. "You wait for me, as well."

Flint paused briefly before continuing. " Lady Jaye, be safe."

"And you."

He lowered his head and planted a soft kiss on her lips.

It seemed like forever before they let go of each other.

He opened the door for her and when they entered the hall, they went separate ways.

Duke and Ripcord stood near the stairwell in the hallway while Flint and Trigger were at the opposite end. The rest of the team was directly above them on the next floor. Both pairs were waiting for the signal. When it arrived, Flint and Trigger would enter the room, Duke and Ripcord would keep an eye out for any problems, if they arose. Flint and Trigger made a quick change in their strategy before going in. Flint would be the look out, while Trigger made the grab. Thus allowing Flint to clear any room before they entered.

"I'm looking out for you."

Trigger was annoyed. He was tired of telling people that he would look out for himself. "No need, I can handle it."

"No, I'm going to cover you."

"I can look out for myself."

"No, you can't. I have your back, you have mine. That's how this is going to work."

"Have it your way." Trigger double checked his revolver. "You obviously know what you're doing. I'll follow your lead, and learn from you."

Flint looked over at Trigger. "Yeah, learn from me."

"Hey, since we're just sitting here, can I ask you something?"

"It better be important."

Trigger lowered his voice to below a whisper. "Well, it depends on what you consider important. My inquiring mind wants to know…"

Flint hesitated. "What?" He knew the question Trigger was going to ask. "Yes, she is."

"Whoa! I didn't even ask!"

"You didn't have to. I don't want any rumors started, and I don't want your big mouth spreading what you hear."

"It's not my big mouth you should worry about, talk to Ripcord, he's the one who told me. I needed an explanation why you jumped me today."

"I did not jump you today." Flint held up his hand and backed them up into the stairwell. Two Crimson Guardsmen walked out of the villa and down the hall. "Aww, shit. How many do you think are in there?"

"Five, six total." Trigger pulled the safety off his revolver.

Flint radioed to Duke on the other side about the guards. They exited the floor on Duke's side, and two more entered the room. The guards on Duke's side could be sure that the break they took would be one they never return from.

The team sat quiet for a few more moments and it wasn't long before the private elevator doors opened and Jaye stepped out. Without a pause she walked to the door of the villa. After one knock she was let in, by the doorman, who shut the door behind her, and walked to the elevator.

"Flint, why do you think he left?" Trigger nudged him in the shoulder.

"I'm not sure. Waiting for the girl, send the doorman away."

"Maybe they just want to make our job easy."

"I doubt that. Come on Jaye, find it, and give us the signal."

"Don't rush her, Flint," Trigger joked. "She likes to work on her own sweet time. Maybe she will have something by tomorrow morning."

"Shut up, Trigger."


	8. Outside Inside

_Disclaimer: Characters in this work (GI Joe/ Cobra) are the property of Marvel Comics, Hasbro  
and Devil's Due Publishing, Inc , and are being used without permission. No profit is gained from the use of these characters._

_Rowan Michaels (a.k.a. Trigger), Mirrored Reflections, and the Diamondback are of my own creation_

_Thanks to: DesertFox for her work, JohnF. , I would not know Rowan, if I did not know you, and to Jai for the push . . . _

**Diamond in the Rough**

By Nickelina

**Outside/Inside**

_**Outside-**_

Villa One was lit by candlelight and a few small lamps that were scattered across the main room. The doors to the bedroom were closed; however, the screened doors to the private patio and adjacent garden were open. The vanilla colored curtains swayed with the light evening breeze.

As the room door shut behind her, Lady Jaye took a look around. The twins were nowhere in sight. She walked around the room tracing her hand along the large mahogany table. At the far end of the room, there was a set of double doors that led to the adjacent room. It was the room that her boys were going to come through, so she walked over to make sure it was not locked. Across the room, was the other set of doors that led to the bedroom. It was a beautiful room, decorated in shades of white and gold. A giant bed with silk sheets that made her want to curl up on it. What also caught her eye was the mahogany armoire. She pulled the door open. Inside were the neatly pressed shirts of the twins. The bottom drawer was locked. Taking a lock pick from her purse, she popped the lock and pulled the door open. Inside were the three diamond boxes. Jaye shut the drawer to the armoire, and closed the doors. She reached for the tracking device that she had and pressed the button on it and waited for the light to come on. That would be the sign that the team had her location, and knew where the diamonds were. Jaye walked out of the bedroom and quietly closed the door.

She heard soft music coming from the patio. Taking a white rose from a vase on the table, she walked to the patio doors. She took a deep breath, pushed the linen curtains aside and stepped through the door way with a smile on her face. "Good evening, gentleman," Jaye said softly as she stepped across the balcony to the table that the twins were sitting at.

"Good evening, Daisy." Tomax stood to greet her. "Would you like a glass of Chardonnay?"

"Why yes, thank you."

Xamot poured her a glass and handed it to her as she sat, letting his hand linger on hers. "Lovely night isn't it?"

"That it is. It's amazing how the desert cools at night."

The three sat quiet for a while. Jaye was not drinking her wine and Xamot noticed.

"Is that not to your liking, Dear? Would you like a Cabernet Sauvignon? Or your favorite, Merlot?"

Jaye was taken aback. Something wasn't right. "No, no, this is fine really. I'm just taking in the scene." What ever was going on, she couldn't put her finger on it. She picked up the flower and brought it to her nose. "Beautiful."

"As are you."

Jaye was hesitant, not knowing just what to expect next. "How far back do these gardens go?"

"Would you like to go for a walk?"

"Yes, I would." She pressed the button on the back of her pendant. The team would now be moving in. As Jaye grabbed her wine glass off the table she saw two figures moving into the room.

The three walked toward the back of the gardens without saying much, it was Tomax who broke the silence. "So what did you think about the presentation today?" He asked her while holding back a small branch that was in Jaye's way.

"Well, I don't know." Jaye walked over to the edge of the garden. It overlooked another patio that led to the main area of the hotel and a service road. "I'm not sure, really. I was a bit confused about the whole thing."

"Confused? How so?" Xamot put his arm around her in a way that made her not only uneasy, but nervous.

"We work very closely with the organization, and we believe in it, and what they are trying to do." Tomax moved in closer to her.

Jaye laughed. "And I thought you were just a simple jewel distributor." She paused briefly. "After talking with my husband, I don't think that dealing with the COBRA organization would be the best thing for us."

"For you?" Tomax asked.

"No, for us."

"You, my dear, already are." Xamot said, turning to face her.

"I am?" All of the missing pieces were falling into place for her. She looked towards the sliding doors of the room.

"Yes. Let's walk this way." Tomax lead her back towards the patio. He stopped in front of another rose bush. "Isn't this your favorite flower, Daisy?"

"No." Her tone was suspicious.

"You chose Chardonnay, when Merlot is your favorite."

Jaye's heart was beating faster now. "I never told you what my favorite wine was."

"There is much we know about you, Daisy," Tomax was now blocking her way. "Or should we say Lady Jaye?"

Jaye stopped walking forward. This was not happening. _How had my cover been blown?_ She reached up and pressed her panic button just as Tomax grabbed her pendant, and threw it to the ground. She raised her arm to strike Tomax when she felt a gun pressed to her back.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." Xamot pressed the gun into her.

"Shit!" She looked for a direction to run in, but did not find one.

Xamot guided her back to the table and Tomax reached under the table and pulled out a pair of handcuffs. "Well, well, well, that didn't take long now did it? You GI Joes can never keep to yourselves can you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Don't play games with us." Tomax's hands slid down her arms until they reached her wrists where he tightened his hold. He placed the handcuffs on her so her hands were locked in front of her. "How long did you think this little charade was going to go on?" The sound of a scuffle emanated from inside the room. Tomax called for a guard to check it out.

She knew she had been found out, but she didn't know how. Fearing the whole plan had been foiled, she had to get out. It took all of her strength to pull her arms forward and upward to get herself out of Tomax's grasp. Once her arms were free she swung them from right to left, hitting both twins in the face one at a time. She looked for her pendant on the ground. Lady Jaye dropped herself to the ground grabbed it as best she could, and pressed the panic button a second time, alerting the entire team.

"You."

"Bitch."

Xamot reached down and grabbed Lady Jaye's arm and pulled her up off the ground. He raised his hand to her, but before he could strike her, she managed to kick him between the legs. Xamot winced in pain and fell to the ground. Tomax shoved Lady Jaye back to the ground and ran past her to his brother, helping him up. Jaye struggled to get the cuffs off.

"Sir!" A guardsman called from the doorway. "We have trouble inside."

"You stay with her." Tomax told Xamot. He ran towards the room.

Xamot stood over her with a disgusted look on his face. "You Joes can never mind your own business, can you?"

"Not when it comes to the safety of the world."

"Shut up!" He screamed at her.

"So," Jaye pulled her legs under her. "When did you find me out?"

The sounds from inside the room were getting louder and Xamot was trying to hear what was going on.

"Your little escapade in the elevator four days ago. Did you not expect that we would have bugged that? We heard the whole conversation between you and your husband, as you call him. And your actions in Mexico gave you away. When you were, how did you put it, talking to yourself? You were overheard. We haven't believed your story from the time we met you. We were on to you from the start. You were stupid."

Jaye sighed. As mad as she was at this moment she had to play her cards just right. It would be her only chance. "Xamot, take these off of me."

"Are you mad?"

There were sounds of yelling and breaking glass from the room.

"You got me. I'm not going to run. I've had plenty of opportunity to try anything I wanted to in the past four days. I haven't." Her voice was pleading. "Please."

"No."

She knew what kind of card to play and she dealt it. She dropped her voice and spoke quietly. "Your brother is in trouble. He needs you. I can help both of you and you know it. I know how many Joes are in there. I can help you."

"You would never turn on your precious Joes." He kept his eyes towards the room.

"I don't really have a choice, do I?" Her eyes softened when he looked at her.

Xamot pulled her up off the ground and grabbed her wrists. He turned the key for the cuffs and they fell to the ground. She remembered Flint's knife and took it out of her pocket. She opened the blade and held it towards Xamot.

He raised his hand to take the knife from her.

"Keep your dirty hands off me." She warned.

Before he could do anything, they heard two gunshots. A look of alarm flashed over Xamot's face. He looked to the doorway, then at Lady Jaye. Choosing his brother over his prisoner, he left Lady Jaye on her own and ran towards the room. Within seconds, she was running towards the door herself. The sound of multiple gunshots stopped her dead in her tracks. Her heart was racing now. She could see Crimson Guardsmen entering the room from the exterior hallway. She knew her escape would not be possible from that direction.

She made her way back through the garden. Off to one side was a ledge that dropped off to a service area near the pool. The Crimson Guardsmen were now entering the garden. Her instincts told her to go to the thick of the fight, and defend her team. But being unarmed, what help would she be in a fire fight?

Hearing footsteps getting closer to her in the garden, she crawled over the ledge and let herself hang. After taking a deep breath, she let herself go, landing on a small overhang, breaking her fall. Jaye flipped herself off the overhang and walked towards the back of the property. Trying not to draw attention to herself, she climbed over a fence and walked into the parking garage.

Deep inside of her, there was a creeping feeling of dread. Trying to shake it off, she took off her wig and threw it to the ground. She ran her hands through her brown hair. Taking off her overcoat, she tossed it between two cars as she walked past. Something was horribly wrong. The only thing she could do was get herself back to the Sahara and wait for the rest of her team. Once she found her way out of the parking garage, she walked towards The Strip, and began the three mile walk to her hotel, blending in with the people on the street.

_**Inside-**_

Flint opened the exterior door just a crack, and looked inside. When the coast was clear he motioned Trigger to follow him in. Once Trigger was inside, Flint closed the door. From where they were both standing they could see the bedroom door. As they walked toward it, Trigger stopped ever so briefly to admire the room.

It was filled with expensive furniture, candles and flowers. It looked like something out of a movie. He had never imagined that people actually lived like this. He pointed to the built-in bar along the wall, and motioned Flint with a smirk on his face. "We're going to take some of that with us when we leave," He whispered.

Flint motioned him silent with a cutting gesture at his throat.

Both men walked though the main room and stopped short of the sliding glass doors that led to the patio and garden. Trigger leaned forward and looked though the nearly sheer curtains that hung over the open doors. He could see Lady Jaye and the twins sitting at a table on the patio. They waited for the signal that cleared the way for them to enter the bedroom.

Trigger let his eyes wander again. He wanted to take in as much of this as he could. The giant mahogany table, the oversized furniture, and expensive paintings on the wall. He just knew that the bathrooms were pure marble as well. This was something his parents would love. He looked over at the large vase filled with white roses. _Mom just loved roses. No matter how little money we had, she always had flowers on the mantel. She would always stop to smell them every time she walked past. It was just too bad that she couldn't have roses on her... _Trigger looked away from the vase; this was not the time or place for that kind of thinking. He looked back out the door and saw Lady Jaye moving into the garden.

Flint heard her signal in his ear piece and motioned Trigger past him and to the bedroom.

"Wow, nice digs." Trigger took a look around while waiting for Flint to clear the bedroom.

Flint turned around and gave him a look.

"I was just saying..." Trigger whispered

Flint leaned up against one wall and Trigger the other. Flint nodded to Trigger and he turned the lock opening the door. Flint walked in, gun in hand, and checked far sides of the bedroom. He found it empty, and motioned Trigger to the armoire. Trigger bent down in front of it, and tried to pull the bottom drawer open.

"Why did she relock it?"

"Maybe it's self-locking. Pick it."

"Hello! What do you think I'm doing?" Trigger was annoyed with Flint's lack of trust in his abilities.

Flint kept his eye out for anyone as Trigger jimmied the lock. Once the drawer was opened, they had to decide which of the three boxes had the diamond in it. Trigger went to work picking the locks of the three cases, one by one.

The exterior door opened and a Crimson guardsman walked through to make a check of the room. He noticed that the door to the bedroom was partially open and walked in that direction.

"Bingo!" Trigger said as he opened the first of the three cases. Inside of it were a handful of small stones in small plastic bags. He closed it, set it on the floor and reached for the next case. As he was about to pop it open, the bedroom door swung open.

"Who are you and what are you doing?" The Siegie asked.

"We're looking for something." Flint answered him, punching him in the face, breaking the man's nose. The guardsman fell backwards into the main room and fell over a chair. Flint called the rest of the team on his wrist comm. "We have company, move in!"

Two more guardsmen entered the room and a fistfight began. Being in the bedroom was a trap, so Trigger pushed his way into the main room. He grabbed the nearest guardsmen by the upper arm and swung him around so his back was to him. Trigger picked up the only case he could reach and hit the Guardsman in the head with it, knocking him out. The scuffle inside was loud enough to be heard by anyone who was out in the garden. Trigger was sure the twins would call more guards. He tossed the case into the main room. The approaching footsteps he heard were a signal that the rest of the team was on the way in. Trigger looked towards the door, but all he saw were more in red. "Flint these freaks are in on all sides!"

"I can see that Trigger. I'm not blind."

"Where the hell is the rest of the team?"

"Held up, obviously." Flint lunged at two guards that had entered the room. Trigger lent him a hand in holding them off. One guard managed to get past them and ran through the patio doors and out to the garden.

"Sir," he yelled. "We have trouble inside."

Before the guard could make it back into the room, Trigger hit him with the butt of his gun and let him fall to the ground. He looked over and saw that one of the twins was running toward the room and Lady Jaye was on the ground. "How good is Lady Jaye at getting herself out of trouble?" Trigger shouted to Flint.

"Pretty good, why?"

"Because I have a feeling she is on her own, we have bigger problems coming our way."

Flint had his pistol drawn, and ready. Trigger radioed the rest of the team via his own comm link. "What the hell are you doing up there? Get down here right now!"

"We're holding off Guardsmen. Get yourselves out of there!" Duke radioed back

Just as Tomax got in the doorway, Trigger caught sight of the pistol he was holding. Trigger dropped to the floor. Tomax fired at him, but missed and hit the mirror on the wall above him, showering Trigger with glass. Tomax aimed again this time at Flint.

Flint pointed his gun at Tomax, then reached down to grab Trigger's hand and tried to pull him across the floor out of the way of any bullets Tomax was going to fire. Before Trigger could fire back in defense, Tomax pulled the trigger and hit Flint once in the side.

Flint fired his gun at the same time, but because of his injury his bullet passed Tomax, and became embedded in the wall. Flint tried to keep himself up but slid to the floor.

It only took a second for Trigger to realize what had happened. He looked over at Flint, then back to Tomax. "You fucking bastard!" Trigger pushed himself up off the floor and with his gun aimed he ran towards Tomax. He fired one shot, but Tomax moved out of the way and he was hit in the shoulder. Two more Crimson Guardsmen came through the doorway, firing at Trigger.

Trigger ducked and turned his aim to the ones who were shooting at him. Trigger shot both of them, he didn't know where, but they had both fallen to the ground. He turned his attention back to Tomax who was being looked over by his brother. Trigger knew this was the time to get himself and Flint out of the room.

Flint had grabbed the case that Trigger tossed out of the room earlier. He had trouble hanging on to it, but he did his best not to let it go. Trigger bent down and lifted Flint up and over his shoulder and carried him into the hall. He made it past the main elevator and around the corner to the service elevator. When he turned the corner he saw more guardsmen approaching. Trigger punched the elevator buttons to get the doors to open. He set Flint on the ground and fired at he guardsmen at as many times as he could, hoping it did not take long for the doors to open. Trigger stood in front of Flint, trying to shield him with his own body. The elevator arrived and Trigger threw open the door. He pulled Flint inside and began to pull the gate closed. Before he pulled the main door shut he flipped the guards of with a shit eating grin on his face. Once the doors were safely closed, Trigger hit the up button sending them on a longer trip than necessary, allowing for the rest of the team to clear the service floor before they arrived. He hit his wrist comm. "Flint is hit! We're in the service elevator on our way down. He's gonna need emergency evac."

"We're waiting for you." Duke answered back.

Trigger ripped open Flint's shirt and looked for the bullet wound. Once he found it, he put his hand over it and applied pressure. Flint winced in pain. "Hang in there. I'm gonna get you out of here. Don't die on me, Buddy." _Please don't die on me, this can't happen again._


	9. The Flop

_Disclaimer: Characters in this work (GI Joe/ Cobra) are the property of Marvel Comics, Hasbro  
and Devil's Due Publishing, Inc., and are being used without permission. No profit is gained from the use of these characters._

_Rowan Michaels (a.k.a. Trigger), Mirrored Reflections, and the Diamondback are of my own creation_

_Thanks to: JohnF, my muse, again. _

**Diamond in the Rough**

By Nickelina

**The Flop**

It had only been a half hour since Jaye had been back in her room. She had changed back into her normal uniform. She ruffled her wet hair and sat down on the bed. The rest of the team was on radio silence. The only word she had was a message on her wrist comm from Mainframe telling her to stay put until further notice. She could not stay still for long. COBRA knew where she was and they more than likely were going to come after her.

Jaye flipped on the television for noise and went about packing the things she needed to take with her. She had put a few things in her small bag when a breaking news story caught her attention.

"A botched robbery attempt at the Bellagio ends in gunfire..." She promptly turned off the television and hastily finished packing her things. She strapped on her side arm and went to the window to look for anything suspicious. There was a rapid knock at the door. She drew her side arm and stepped quietly to the door. She responded to the knock with two of her own and it was answered back with two from the other side. Jaye knew it was someone from her team and she opened the door. She waited until Duke and Dusty entered before putting her sidearm away. Neither one of them said anything to her as they did a once over of the room.

Duke walked to the bed and picked up her bag. "Get your stuff," he said as he handed the bag to her.

"I'm ready." She replied, taking the bag from Duke. "What's going on?"

Duke did not respond to her. He looked at his watch then to Dusty. "Duke! Answer me."

"You are needed elsewhere. Please refrain from talking to anyone until further notice."

Jaye looked over at Dusty who shrugged his shoulders at her. He tried to break the ice with Duke. "When did they say they would be here?"

"Half hour."

"Who?" Jaye threw her bag on the bed. "What the hell is going on?"

Duke stood in front of Jaye and put his hands on his hips. "This mission's been scrubbed."

"No shit, Sherlock. What's going on? What happened that you can't tell me?"

Duke repeated himself. "This mission's been scrubbed. We're cleaning up."

The fact that Duke would not tell her anymore information was a big clue that something had gone seriously wrong. He simply turned his back to her and began to pace the room. Jaye turned to Dusty for any information he could give her.

"Dusty?"

He looked away from her, avoiding eye contact.

"Goddamn it!" Jaye stomped her foot. "What the hell is going on? If you tell me 'this mission's been scrubbed' again I swear I'll put my foot right up someone's ass."

Duke straightened and turned to face her again. "First of all, lower your voice. Secondly, watch your tone. This is not your boyfriend you're talking to." He stopped and put his hand to his forehead. "I'm sorry." Duke paused before continuing. "You know procedure. I can't tell you anymore."

"Duke, I was there remember?"

"I know." He stepped closer to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "We had a casualty, and bigger problems."

"Oh God." Jaye sat on the bed.

"There is a car waiting for you on the corner of Sahara and Paradise. We will meet up later at the command center and debrief there. I'd suggest you hurry."

Jaye looked over at Dusty and back to Duke. "That's it? I just get in a car and drive away?"

"Yes."

Dusty picked up her bag and handed it to her. "Stay strong Jaye."

Jaye walked down the hall to the elevator. The doors shut and she leaned up against the mirrored back wall. Dusty's words kept echoing in her head. _Stay strong._ The feeling that she was about to lose someone close to her was overwhelming. She just didn't know who.

Jaye met her car at the corner as Duke had instructed. She was driven to the airport and directly to a waiting military transport. She walked aboard the plane and sat away from the others, but still close enough to see where everyone was. She did a head count and noticed three were missing; Duke, Dusty, and Flint. Everything fell into place. She felt as if a dark cloud fell over her. Flint was the casualty that Duke mentioned. Her heart sank and she put her head down. The hatch of the plane closed and the engines roared to life.

The mood in aboard the transport was sullen to say the least. There was no need to tell what had happened. Everyone had pretty much figured it out once they noticed who was not among them. The small team tried to occupy their time by sorting through their things or talking quietly between themselves. Just before take off, Ripcord sat next to Lady Jaye. He knew by the distant look in her eyes that she didn't want his company. He stayed by her side anyway.

He placed his hand on her knee. Jaye looked down at it and waited for him to move it. He cleared his throat and placed his hands in his lap. "I just wanted to see how you were doing," He said.

Lady Jaye shrugged her shoulders but did not reply.

"This is difficult on all of us," Ripcord continued. "I can just imagine what's going through your head."

Jaye's expression had not changed. She stared straight ahead. She did not want to look at Ripcord for fear she might break down if she saw the concern in his face.

"I have to go check on Trigger. He seems to be in the same… place you are. I'll be back in a few minutes. Are you going to be okay?" Ripcord asked her.

Jaye closed her eyes. Ripcord couldn't possibly know what was going through her mind right now. As much as she wanted to think about Flint she couldn't get over how this whole mission had gone so badly so fast. Everything this team did had one glitch after another. If the first meeting with the twins had gone different, if she would have just done as she as told and not taken the mission further would this have happened? She just hoped Flint did not blame her for this. If she had the chance to talk to him again, how would she explain?

"We have to fix this." She told Ripcord.

"I know we do." Ripcord replied. He patted her shoulder before walking over to check on Trigger.

The plane made its way down the runway and took off. As it circled over Las Vegas Jaye looked out the small window that was next to her. The bright lights had lost their sparkle. The city began it fade into the distance. She felt tears come to her eyes. She quickly closed them before anyone saw. Without Duke or Flint with them, she was in charge. She was going to have to be strong for everyone else until they got back to the Command Center. She knew everyone was pretty settled so she tried to nap until they got home. Jaye only had one thought in her mind as she drifted to sleep; I'll wait for you Dash, I love you.

Across the aisle and near the back of the plane, Trigger was also trying to nap. But it didn't come easy for him. He was convinced he was bad luck. When he drifted off he found himself in the living room of his parent's house.

_It was late, and five year old Rowan should have been in bed but instead he was sitting on the floor of his bedroom playing with his small plastic army men. He was left in the care of a neighbor while his parents had gone to run errands. They had been gone for hours now. The house was now quiet. His neighbor had come up to his room to check on him a few times. Her face was full of concern. She asked him if he needed anything. He told her no, but asked her when his parents were going to be home. His neighbor told him she was not sure, but she knew it would be soon. A short time later he heard a car pull into the drive way and young Rowan jumped up off the floor and ran to the staircase to greet his parents. When the door opened he expected to see his mother's smiling face, instead in the doorway stood two police officers._

"_Rowan, come down here please." His neighbor said. "Rowan?"_

"Rowan?"

Trigger shook himself awake. It wasn't his neighbor's voice he heard it was Ripcord. "What?"

"Are you ok?" Ripcord looked at him with concern. "You were doing that sleep thing again."

Trigger sat up straight. "How long was I out?"

"Only for a few minutes."

Trigger looked around the plane. It was obvious that no one was looking at him. He ran his fingers through his hair. He looked at Ripcord and tried to think of something to say. Ripcord understood even though nothing had been said.

"It's okay." Ripcord smiled at him. "We are all thinking the same thing. I know you probably don't want to hear it, but maybe when we get back to base you should talk to someone."

"I already did all that." Trigger cut him off. He was starting to get angry, even though he knew there was no reason to be. Ripcord was his only friend, and he was concerned.

"I mean about what happened today. What happened between you and Flint."

"There is nothing to talk about." Trigger reached down to dig through his pack to distract himself. "Shit happens, Ripcord. Missions go badly all the time. No amount of talking is going to change that. We both know it."

Ripcord shook his head. "No. That is not how it is. I just want to help you. You have some nasty demons chasing you. I just thought if you talked about it…"

"Talk about this, talk about that. I'm ready to stop talking to you all together if you don't stop bothering me!"

"All right Trigger. I'll stop. But let me suggest one thing. When we get off this plane we're going to have to de-brief. Not everyone is going to get the whole story." Ripcord discreetly pointed towards Lady Jaye. "She deserves to know everything. Please tell her."

Trigger simply looked at Lady Jaye and said nothing. He turned back to Ripcord. "I'll think about it." He crossed his arms and closed his eyes. He wasn't going back to sleep, but he wasn't going to listen to Ripcord anymore tonight.

Jaye sat very still. Her eyes were only half-open. She looked at Ripcord and Trigger. She just couldn't figure out why Trigger acted the way he did. Why was he always on the defensive. She had to find out what really happened in that room and why this mission ended so badly. If she was going to find out, going right to the source was her plan.

Destro turned off his television and laughed aloud. He knew it was only a matter of time before Cobra Commander messed things up with the Diamondback. Destro knew he should have never left it in the control of the Commander. He leaned back in this chair and lit a cigar. He knew the commander would be calling soon. The light on his intercom lit up and Destro picked up.

"I see you have run into trouble again, Commander." He said.

"This is just a minor inconvenience, Destro. "Cobra Commander replied. He made Destro laugh.

"Inconvenience you say? One of your own Crimson guard commanders was shot. You have the Las Vegas police department investigating the incident, the government can't be far behind. I'm sure they would like to know why COBRA had an operation in the city. But if that is a minor…"

"Shut up, Destro." The Commander snapped. "Everything is taken care of."

"I don't see it that way. I need to ask you, Commander." Destro paused. "Do you have the diamonds in your possession?"

The Commander hesitated before answering. "Yes, I have the stone. The Joes were unable to retrieve the proper case."

"A fluke. Bring it to Amsterdam immediately. I want it cut."

"I want to wait. Joe knows we still have it and they will be expecting us to move it."

Destro set his cigar down in the antique ash tray on his desk. He leaned forward and placed his elbows on the desk. "I can not finish your weapon without the diamond. The sooner you have it here, the sooner you can use it against the Joes. It would be wise, Commander, to finish it before they get back on their feet."

The team had been dismissed from their debriefing with the exception of Lady Jaye and Trigger. Hawk was less than pleased with their reports of the mission in Las Vegas. He was aware of the circumstances and what had happened; he needed to get as much information out of them as he could. They were both close to breaking so he took a break from the questions. Trigger sat at one end of the table, his arms were crossed over his chest, and he leaned back in his chair. Lady Jaye was leaning on the table with her head in her hands. She pulled her fingers through her hair as she sat up. She sighed and looked at Trigger.

"I don't get it." She said.

"Oh, here we go again." Trigger said.

"How did you walk away with out a scratch?"

"Stop it, Lady Jaye. We've already been through this." Hawk interrupted.

"What really happened in that room?"

Trigger got up out of his chair and walked over to her. "How many times do I have to tell you?"

"Until I believe you. You should know, you are the one who blew our cover." She told him.

"Wait one minute." Trigger said.

"No. This is your entire fault. I knew something like this was going to happen. I even told Flint, 'watch out for Trigger.'"

"Burnett!" Hawk scolded her but she didn't stop.

"I was doing my job, Jaye!"

Jaye stood up and put her hands on her hips. "You don't even know what your job is."

"Both of you stop it!" Hawk stood between the two. "Trigger, you are dismissed."

Trigger saluted Hawk and walked out of the room. Hawk waited until the door was shut before he turned to Jaye.

"Do you have any idea how close you are to being on report?" He said as he pulled a chair out for her to sit on. Did you ever think that maybe, just maybe, it's your attitude towards Trigger that has added fuel to this fire?"

"Yes, Sir." Jaye sat down, but she was not defeated.

"I'm becoming increasingly disappointed in you. This is not the Lady Jaye that I know. I want you to take a few days to get things in order. Ground yourself, meditate, what ever it takes to get you back on the top of your game. You're not to leave this base. I don't even want to hear about you sneaking off to Las Vegas. Is that understood, Corporal?"

"Yes, Sir."

"Lady Jaye, this mission is not over yet, not by a long shot. We'll get them this time."

Jaye simply nodded her head.

"Dismissed."

She got up to leave, and before she got to the door, Hawk called her name.

"Jaye, I'll call you if I hear any news about Flint. Try to get some rest."

She did not turn around; she didn't want Hawk to see the tears that came to her eyes. She walked out the door and ran into Trigger.

She quickly wiped the tears from her eyes. "Is there something you need?"

"I have something for you."

She sighed. "Trigger, not now." She started to walk away, but he grabbed her arm.

He reached into his side pocket and took out Flint's beret. He held it out for her. "I didn't want to leave it there. I'm sure it's in safe hands with you."

She took it from him and felt her eyes burn. She desperately tried to hold back tears. "Thank you."

"See, I'm not such a bad guy." He reached up and wiped a tear off her cheek. "It's been one hell of a day. I know the feeling. Do you want me to walk you to your quarters?"

Jaye shook her head no.

"I'll see you later." Trigger told her. He turned the other way and walked down the hall.


End file.
